Decision details

Councillor Lucy Smith, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, presented the report regarding two separate statutory proposals published by the local authority in respect of Chantlers Primary School and Woodbank Primary School regarding the establishment of specialist resourced provision units at both schools with effect from September 2023. Resourced Provision units enable children and young people with an Education Health and Care Plan to remain in a mainstream school setting, with that setting being able to offer enhanced support to meet specific additional needs.

Decision:

Cabinet:

1.    Noted the outcomes of the consultations for Chantlers Primary School and Woodbank Primary School;

2.    Approved the proposal to establish a new 12 place Specialist Resourced Provision for pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs at Chantlers Primary School; and

3.    Approved the proposal to establish a new 12 place Specialist Resourced Provision for pupils with Autistic Spectrum Conditions and Speech, Language and Communication Needs at Woodbank Primary School.

Reasons for the decision:

Development of additional resourced provision in mainstream settings – as set out in the Project Safety Valve agreement between the Council and the Department for Education - is a key element of the specialist place sufficiency strategy. Taken together, the Agreement and strategy set out the business case for the development of new provision to meet increasing demand for specialist provision and reduce the reliance on placements in Independent Non-Maintained Special Schools (INMSS).

The PSV agreement between the Council and Department for Education (DfE) sets out the requirement for new specialist educational provision, including new Resourced Provision and new Free Special Schools. This includes a schedule of those mainstream schools where it is intended to establish new RP, the funding allocated to support delivery, and indicative timescales for delivery.

The agreement has been subject to consideration by Cabinet and the Children & Young People’s Scrutiny Committee and is subject to governance provided by the PSV Delivery Board. The development of new specialist provision seeks to ensure access to a high quality continuum of provision, enabling the majority of children and young people with additional needs to access local provision, with appropriate capacity and resources to meet need.

Long-term value for money will be achieved by pupils having their needs met within appropriate mainstream provision with specialist support rather than in special school provision. This will free up special school places for pupils with the highest level of needs and provide the opportunity to place high need pupils within the borough, rather than in out of borough provision.

Other options considered and rejected:

The proposals support the Council’s programme of SEND transformation, in expanding in borough specialist provision.