A county-wide expansion of speech and language support services for primary school pupils is set to benefit dozens more schools across Oxfordshire.
The Wellcomm language programme will be introduced to 80 additional schools, increasing overall participation to more than 120 institutions countywide.
The initiative forms part of Oxfordshire’s Out Loud strategy and has received £90,000 in funding through Oxfordshire County Council’s new special educational needs and disabilities reform budget for the 2026-27 academic year.
Sean Gaul, the council’s cabinet member responsible for children and young people, explained that the funding would provide crucial support at a pivotal stage of schooling.
The programme equips schools to assess pupils’ communication development and implement focused teaching strategies using resources designed for regular classroom use.
Schools will implement the GL Assessments Wellcomm toolkit to evaluate children’s language capabilities and offer customised classroom assistance.
The approach targets all learners, not exclusively those with identified special educational needs and disabilities, by resolving communication difficulties before they impede academic progress.
Participants will access guidance from advisory teachers and speech and language therapy professionals employed by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust.
This professional input allows educators to utilise assessment instruments efficiently and provide timely interventions without requiring referrals to external services.
Mark Chambers, who leads children’s community services at Oxford Health, highlighted that recognising speech, language and communication needs promptly leads to better outcomes for young people.
The expanded availability represents significant progress, bringing together educational establishments, local government and healthcare providers to ensure suitable assistance reaches more children at the right time.
Oxford Health values its contribution to pupils developing the communication skills essential for both academic success and broader life skills.
During the period spanning March 2025 to March 2026, in excess of 2,200 young people underwent assessment through this provision.
Approximately 30 percent more students subsequently demonstrated language competencies aligned with expected developmental stages following targeted support.
The Wellcomm rollout builds upon the foundation established by Oxfordshire’s early years advisory team, which has employed the assessment tool within nursery and early years environments since 2021.
Staff have developed expertise in recognising communication requirements at initial stages and delivering appropriate assistance, enhancing results for children including those learning English as an additional language.
Ambitious objectives include implementing the programme across every primary school in Oxfordshire by 2030, with prospective extension into secondary school settings.
This provision complements Oxford Health’s speech and language therapy waiting list improvement initiative, which reduced the queue of children awaiting assistance from 2,890 to 1,214 across the period September 2024 to August 2026.
The proportion of young people waiting beyond twelve months declined by approximately 90 percent, falling from 1,408 to 149.