Special provision fund

Background

The council is committed to making sure there are sufficient good school places for all pupils in Lancashire, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). In March 2017 the Government made more funding available to help local authorities create new school places and improve existing provision for children and young people with education, health and care plans. Another £6.5 million has been committed by the council to support the development of building projects in Lancashire for children and young people with SEND.

SEND strategy

Plans about how this money should be spent in Lancashire are part of an overall special educational needs and disabilities strategy that will transform provision for children and young people with special educational needs by ensuring all children and young people have access to the right high quality provision as close to their family and local community as possible.

This strategy has been created to support:

• the participation of children, their parents and young people in decision- making
• the early identification of children and young people’s needs and early intervention to support them
• greater choice and control for young people and parents over support
• collaboration between education, health and social care services to provide support
• high quality provision to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND
• a focus on inclusive practice and removing barriers to learning
• successful preparation for adulthood, including independent living and employment.

Projects

In Lancashire the council is planning to use some of this funding for two projects to create new places by increasing good and outstanding special school provision on two different sites. These have been selected in order to:

• meet increased demand for provision for children and young people with autism and general learning difficulties
• ensure there will be enough provision for secondary age pupils in areas with higher levels of need
• make sure there is sufficient high quality provision in areas of higher deprivation
• make the best use of the available funding by creating more special school places in existing buildings.

Project 1

An additional sixty special school places will be created by moving Broadfield Specialist School in Oswaldtwistle to the Hameldon Community College site in Burnley. The distance between these two school sites is less than nine miles.

Broadfield Specialist School is an outstanding school for secondary aged pupils with general learning difficulties. It has achieved Autism Accreditation with the National Autistic Society.

Project 2

Ninety-five extra places will become available by using space in Sir Tom Finney Community High School in Preston that is not used at the moment. This is a good secondary school for pupils with general learning difficulties.  

Consultation

A series of consultations with young people, parents and carers and schools took place in October and November 2019.

These consultations were attended by a total of 6 young people, 25 parents and carers, 52 headteachers and the membership of schools forum.

These were as follows:

Young people	Parents and carers	Schools
POWAR meeting County Hall, Preston 15.10.19	Parent Carer Forum One Year On event Gujarat Hindu Society and Community Centre, Preston 17.10.19	Lancashire Schools Forum County Hall, Preston 17.10.19	Primary headteachers St Andrew's CEP School, Accrington 31.10.19
	Parent carer community group Lune Park Children's Centre, Lancaster 30.10.19	Secondary/primary headteachers Our Lady's Catholic College, Lancaster 29.10.19	Lancashire Association of Special School Heads Kingsbury Special School, Skelmersdale 04.11.19
	Parent Carer Forum group Tor View School, Rossendale 31.10.19	Secondary headteachers Corpus Christi Catholic High School, Preston 30.10.19	Primary headteachers North West SHARES SCITT training centre, Skelmersdale 05.11.19
	Parent Carer Forum group Skelmersdale Library, Skelmersdale 04.11.19	Secondary headteachers Haslingden High School, Rossendale 31.10.19
	Parent Carer Forum group County Hall, Preston 05.11.19

Themes that emerged from these consultations were as follows:

Young people, parents and carers and headteachers

• The majority of people who took part in these consultations were broadly in agreement with the proposals that were put forward and could understand the rationale for both projects.
• The two projects only create additional special school places in the east and the south of the county for secondary aged pupils; there were concerns the projects did not support the development of special school places in the north or for primary aged pupils.

Young people

• Concerns about overcrowding were raised by young people if more places were created in existing provision.

Parents and carers

• Parents expressed concerns that these projects do not address the needs of pupils who have SEND but do not have education, health and care plans.
• The lack of training for staff in mainstream schools prevents pupils attending and being supported in their local mainstream schools was another concern raised by parents.
• Generally speaking parents were keen for pupils to attend their local mainstream schools with appropriate support rather than special schools.
• Special schools were seen as a last resort by some parent/carer groups.
• Some parents and carers expressed a preference for a 'halfway house' between special school and mainstream, located within mainstream schools in order ensure access to an appropriate peer groups and good role models.
• Concerns were raised about the distances pupils have to travel.

Headteachers

• Primary headteachers were concerned the proposals do not address the lack of primary aged provision generally across the county and particularly in the north where currently there is no provision for pupils under the age of eleven presenting with social, emotional and mental health needs.
• Questions were raised about how the SEND strategy would address concerns relating to pupils presenting with social, emotional and mental health needs particularly at secondary level.
• Concerns were raised about how support would be provided for high-functioning pupils with autism, particularly where these presented with social, emotional and mental health needs.

It is anticipated that many of the concerns raised by young people, parents and carers and headteachers will be addressed in the wider SEND sufficiency strategy, that was presented to cabinet in January 2020. This strategy makes recommendations to support inclusion within mainstream schools, increase the number of units attached to mainstream schools and create more special school places across the county at secondary and primary level.

Update June 2021

Lancashire County Council Cabinet gave final approval for both of these projects to go ahead in October 2020. This decision was made after the Cabinet had considered the results of the initial consultations that were carried out between July and September 2020 and the outcomes of the formal statutory consultations that were completed for these projects in January 2021.

Design work on both the expansion of Sir Tom Finney High School and moving Broadfield Specialist School to the former Hameldon College site have now progressed to tender stage. Building work is expected to start for both schools during the autumn term 2021.

If everything goes to plan Broadfield Specialist School will open on its new site at the beginning of the summer term 2022 and the new places at Sir Tom Finney Community High School will become available from September 2022.