Hi Lucy. In Dudley our children have a six week block of hydro. it is very much seen as a health need and not an edcuational one. Parents get them there and collect and the therapists provide staff.

Hi Lucy in Trafford the children/young people have six week blocks of hydro. We have some schools who will fund the transport and send their own TA as as escort and to assist with changing. This tends to be where there is more than one child having hydro and they go as a group. School provide the transport as a reasonable adjustment as it is so beneficial to the students. However, we do have one primary school that funds transport and sends a TA with one child. Other children are taken from school by parents during or after the school day  depending on their preference and the availiability of sessions in the pool. It is only health practitioners that go in the water such as physiotherapist.

As a school with a hydrotherapy pool could I ask who provides the hydro therapy programme? Or is it just swimming in walmer water with better access. Does the TA work with the pupil in the water?

Hi Lucy
In south Worcester the children are given blocks of 6 weeks from physio and the physiotherapists use the hydro pool at the special school where we (Outreach Team) are based, parents bring the children as it is after school. As an Outreach team, we offer an after school session to some of our pupils (distance/need/referred from physio/post op etc). We liaise with physio for targets, parents/TAs support in the water so it is a 'swim/warm water' session. We pay for a physio technician to attend too and this has really improved the quality of the session as she is able to go round and work with most of the children. Myself and another teacher on our team are pool rescue trained and we have a first aider, we have run it for years and it is really useful for us as we get to see our high need children frequently and parents get to know each other.
It is a vital service and good luck with the funding issues etc.
Angela