The provision of places for learners with a special educational need or disability (SEND) in Warwickshire has received a boost following the latest WCC Cabinet meeting.
At its meeting on Thursday 16 March 2023, Warwickshire County Cabinet unanimously agreed to projects that would add an additional 60 places to the County’s SEND provision as part of the Education Capital Programme.
The expansion of schools that meet the needs of learners with SEND, in line with population growth, is a priority to ensure that there are enough places. Nuneaton & Bedworth and Warwick have been identified as areas with a high demand for SEND places across all year groups. As a step forward in addressing this, Cabinet have approved the following:
- Oak Wood Primary School, Nuneaton – The primary school, mainly serving Nuneaton & Bedworth, has been identified as a school requiring additional capacity to meet current SEND demand in the local area. Oak Wood has been allocated £2.31million to build an extension to the school which will contain four additional classrooms along with sensory spaces to create an additional 20 primary SEND places.
- Evergreen School, Warwick – Due to significant housing development, Warwick District has been identified as an area with high current (and future) demand for SEND provision. Evergreen School has been allocated £7.82million to create a new two-storey build that will include seven classrooms, a range of therapy rooms, sensory space, a kitchen, music and vocational rooms, which will create an additional 40 SEND Places.
Nigel Minns, Strategic Director for People Group, said: “We are committed to increasing the number of places in Warwickshire for children with a special educational need or disability to meet both the current and predicted future need for this type of specialist provision.
“This funding will increase our capacity for teaching children with SEND in specialist schools near to their homes, communities and health and care providers. It’s a great step forward to providing the holistic support that is our aspiration” for our more vulnerable learners.”
In addition to the increase in SEND Places, Cabinet also gave its approval for the following developments to be funded:
- Bishop’s Tachbrook Church of England Primary School £517, 000 towards creating an additional 30 places for reception in September 2023 to meet local demand.
- Briar Hill Infant School/St Margaret’s CofE Junior School £720, 000 towards creating an additional 30 places for reception in September 2023 to meet local demand.
- Stratford upon Avon School – £3.716million towards the delivery of additional accommodation at the school for an additional 350 pupils, which was approved by Cabinet in December 2020.
- Bishop’s Itchington Primary School, Stratford on Avon – £195, 000 to undertake classroom improvements.
- Alternative Provision Free School, Warwick – £100,000 towards site access, and service connection works for the new alternative provision free school being delivered by the Department for Education near Europa Way in Warwick.
The Cabinet paper for this item can be found here: https://democracy.warwickshire.gov.uk/documents/s29770/Education%20Capital%20Programme%20202223.pdf
Find out more about Education in Warwickshire: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/education-learning