SPECIAL needs schools provide superb support to children of all ages who, through physical disability or learning difficulty, are unable to attend conventional institutions in the primary or secondary sector.

Teachers work hard to ensure pupils get the very best education they deserve, at the same time providing the necessary comprehensive level of care.

In a world where finance is not easy to find and budgets are challenging for all, the high costs of ensuring the welfare and best possible learning environments for special needs children make life anything but easy.

This category seeks to celebrate the pioneering work being done by the area’s special schools despite the everyday difficulties they face. We are looking for evidence of recent successes and improvements brought about through innovation or sheer dedicated professionalism and skill.

This could involve achievement in improving attendance, exam results, engagement with parents of the building of links with the wider community or local businesses.

Projects with impressive green credentials, interesting or original use of technology, or big strides in improving communication with pupils whose own disabilities impose particular barriers are all examples of the sort of evidence which is being looked for in this category.

Submissions could even highlight a special school’s success with one particularly challenging youngster as an example of how lives are being changed for the better by a team that works with patience and flair day after day.