Three schools to share £3.2m to create more special needs school places

Three schools are to receive a share of more than £3 million approved by Derbyshire County Council as part of its wider £11 million investment to provide 500 additional places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) across Derbyshire.

Cabinet approved SEND capital funding for projects at Bennerley Fields School in Ilkeston, Stanton Vale Special School in Long Eaton and the Holbrook School for Autism in Belper at its meeting held on 5th December.

The £3,195,777 allocation will fund additional SEND places supporting the council to meet its duty to provide enough places for children and young people with SEND across Derbyshire, particularly pupils with more complex needs and those who require alternative provision. 

The report follows the council’s announcement of an £11 million budget in July to increase the number of school places for children with special needs by around 300 over the next two years, having already worked with special schools to create 200 more places since 2020.

The council identified the following current project needs through its SEND sufficiency analysis. As well as creating additional special needs school places, the allocation approved today will also fund improvements at existing provision.

• Bennerley Fields School, Ilkeston: Approval or £2.6m to create three additional classrooms to accommodate 24 pupils, with possible expansion to 30 pupils from September 2025. 
   
• Stanton Vale Special School, Long Eaton: Cabinet initially approved £320,000 in July for a project to refurbish an existing wing to create 22 additional places for pupils with SEND from September 2024 increasing to 35 places by September 2025. The tender price for the project has increased and an additional £230,000 is required to progress the project. 
   
• Holbrook School for Autism at the Whitemoor Centre in Belper:  The Executive Director for Children’s Service approved £250,000 in June 2021 to enable the first phase of a project at the school - managed by the Esteem Multi-Academy Trust (EMAT) - to create two additional places for pupils with autism spectrum disorder and severe learning difficulties. 

The scheme included adaptations to existing buildings, the provision of suitable outdoor facilities and specialist equipment. Further need was identified through the council’s SEND sufficiency work and phase two will allow EMAT to self-manage the refurbishment and remodelling of the nearby Whitemoor Centre building to accommodate additional pupils with SEND. Additional interim funding of £365,777 approved today will reimburse EMAT for its costs to date.
 
These areas of need were identified in the council’s SEND sufficiency surveys carried out in consultation with schools.

Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Education Councillor Alex Dale said: “This is another round of allocations from our £11m plan to increase the number of school places for vulnerable young learners with special educational and complex needs.

“Now they have Cabinet approval we’ll immediately start spending on these projects we’ve developed in partnership with the schools to make sure they make a significant impact on pupils’ early learning.

“Meanwhile, we’re continuing to work closely with mainstream schools to ensure we allocate the remaining funding as soon as we can while also ensuring it’s spent as effectively as possible and where it’s needed. 

“We know there’s a lot to do and we need to work at pace to deliver the improvements that are needed, but we’re committed to giving children with SEND the best possible start in life and give them the learning opportunities they and their families need and deserve.

“Funding allocations like the one approved today are just one part of that work which form the backbone of our commitment to achieving this ambition for them.”

Commenting on the Government’s announcement this week of £740 million funding to increase the number of places for pupils with SEND in mainstream schools Councillor Dale, who is Chair of the f40 national cross-party group of local authorities campaigning for fairer SEND funding, added: “While we welcome this funding and it’s something we’ve been calling for alongside other councils and groups in recent years, it’s just one step in the right direction within a whole system that’s in desperate need of broader reform.

“We’ll wait to see what our allocation is for Derbyshire when the Department for Education confirms it in spring and consider how that could be best spent to support the work we’ve already started to create more suitable places for children with SEND within our mainstream schools.”

The county council’s £11 million investment in special school places is part of a wider three-strand project which also includes creating additional places to promote inclusion for children with special needs in mainstream schools, by investing in Enhanced Resource Schools (ERS), SEND units and alternative provision, which is education provided outside a school setting arranged by us or by schools themselves.

By working with maintained and academy special schools to expand places across the county, rather than seeking to build one or two new special schools in specific areas, it is hoped the new places will be better geographically spread and be accessible to as many Derbyshire families with high needs children as possible.

To ensure the SEND capital funding is used effectively, the council is taking a partnership approach with school leaders, who it acknowledges know their communities best, to review the sufficiency data and make decisions with them to ensure it allocates the funding towards the right provision in the right areas to meet local needs.

Read the full Cabinet report here.