We provide advice to schools and other council services regarding a wide range of issues such as admissions, special educational needs, exclusions and attendance.
We also provide other advisory work to schools including consultancy, training and development.
As well as providing the services detailed below, we also provide many other support services - see our schools and colleges and children and families pages for more information.
The admissions and school transport team is responsible for:
The attendance and exclusions team is responsible for:
We are responsible for:
Teams that provide SEND support gives an overview of our teams that are able to support your school or setting to include children and young people with special educational needs, disabilities, or adjustments to be made under Equality Act legislation.
The Educational Development Service promotes high standards in schools through monitoring, challenging and intervention, and through providing services including consultancy, training and development, and other advisory work.
It also includes the county's school music service which provides instrumental tuition, ensemble work and music-related professional development. In addition, the EDS inspects schools outside County Durham for Ofsted, and works with national and international organisations to deliver accredited programmes across and beyond the county.
The School Organisation and Capital Projects Team has a duty to ensure that there are sufficient school places for the number of children we expect to have in the county, and also to ensure we promote diversity and increase parental choice in the type of schools available. Investment will help to further raise standards by improving the condition of school buildings, the life chances and well-being of children and providing extended services in schools.
The Priority School Building Programme ( PSBP ) is a national programme for councils to bid for resources to replace or remodel those schools in worst condition. We successfully bid for new replacement schools for West Cornforth, Durham Trinity, St. Joseph's RCVA Primary, Coundon and Seaham School of Technology. West Cornforth and Durham Trinity new builds opened in November 2014. St. Joseph's RCVA Primary, Coundon is due to open in February 2016 and Seaham School of Technology in September 2016. We have also successfully bid for major refurbishments to be carried out at Vane Road Primary School, Bishop Barrington School and Durham Community Business College. The scope of work at these three schools is currently being discussed with the Education Funding Agency ( EFA ).
The School and Governor Support Service provides support for schools in their governance responsibilities, including the recruitment of governors. It also advises schools, head teachers, governing bodies, other council teams and councillors. In addition, SGSS provides a range of services to governing bodies via service level agreements. It also supports the work of the Durham County Association of Governors by providing clerical assistance to the executive and its network of 10 cluster groups.
Related information