| SPOTLIGHT |
Over a thousand more children and young people with SEND are set to benefit from access to “high-quality specialised learning”, with seven new special free schools to be built, the Department for Education has announced.
The DfE said local authorities across the country had been selected to deliver a “ground-breaking” new programme to test and refine the reforms to services for young people and families.
Seven special schools are to be built in Cambridgeshire, Kent, Merton and Norfolk, alongside the existing 83 already committed to opening, located across England from Devon to Darlington.
The DfE said that once complete, the investment would more than double the number of special free school places available across the country – from around 8,500 to 19,000 – ensuring “all children receive a quality education, tailored to their needs”.
Backed by £70m, the local authorities will help inform the development of new “national standards” to improve the consistency of provision across the country.
In order to address feedback from families that the current system is often “fragmented” with agencies not working together, the DfE said: “Each area will also bring together education and health services, as well as parents and families to develop an inclusion plan that sets out how they will deliver local services in a co-ordinated way – for example making sure a child with special educational needs who is behind in reading is quickly assessed and given the right support.”
The Government said high needs funding was increasing by a further £440m for 24/25, bringing total funding to £10.5 billion – an increase of over 60% since 2019-20.
Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, Claire Coutinho said: “Making sure children with special educational needs and disabilities get a superb education is a priority.
“Earlier this year our Improvement Plan set out systemic reforms to make sure every child and young person gets consistently high-quality support, no matter where in the country they live.
“Today we’re making sure that those reforms are informed by the experiences of real families, up and down the country, and creating the thousands of new places at specialist schools and in staff training courses that are needed to make sure our plan is a success.”
The government has also confirmed an expansion in training for early years staff, adding an extra 2,000 training places for early years special educational needs co-ordinators on top of the 5,000 already announced.
Lottie Winson
