New specialist resourced provisions (SRP) offering an additional 40 places to support children and young people in Warwickshire with special educational needs and disabilities.
New specialist resourced provisions (SRP) offering an additional 40 places to support children and young people in Warwickshire with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have been given the go-ahead this week.
Following its meeting on Thursday 15 June, Warwickshire County Council Cabinet agreed plans to invest £192k to enhance provision for pupils with communication and interaction needs (C&I) and social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) difficulties.
Continuing the development of SRP’s across the county, a further four primary schools will receive funding to carry out refurbishments enabling them to offer specialist support to children and young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) within a mainstream setting.
SRP’s, of which there are already 14 in Warwickshire, aim to support children and young people who can access the curriculum but have difficulty participating in activities and learning within a mainstream school environment.
With the level of demand for this type of provision increasing and the greatest need anticipated to be within the Nuneaton and Bedworth and Rugby areas, the four new SRP’s will be located at Abbey CE Infant in Nuneaton, Goodyers End Primary in Bedworth, as well as St Andrews Benn CE Primary and St Matthew’s Bloxham CE Primary, located in Rugby.
Plans include the remodelling of existing classrooms to install sensory rooms and nurture areas to provide a calm space for pupils, as well as delivering easier access to improved outdoor play areas. The facilities will enable staff to offer tailored support to meet individual needs, giving children and young people the chance to benefit from an inclusive learning environment that will support their development and wellbeing.
Commenting on the plans, Warwickshire County Council’s portfolio holder for education, Councillor Kam Kaur, said:
“Through the SEND and Inclusion Change Programme, Warwickshire County Council remains steadfast in its commitment to promoting inclusion within mainstream settings and working to provide the resources and skills to enable them to meet a wide range of learners’ needs.
“These additional places will allow us to further increase the range of SEND provision available in Warwickshire, giving more children and young people with SEND the chance to be educated within their local community.
“This will not only improve the education and wellbeing experience for the children and young people involved, but it will also help to minimise lengthy travel time to out of county placements for children and young people."
Refurbishments are planned to take place at all four sites over the coming months to enable the new specialist resourced provisions to take pupils from September 2023.
The Cabinet paper outlining the proposals in full is available here.
Warwickshire currently has 12 specialist resourced provisions connected to mainstream primary schools, with two in North Warwickshire, three in Nuneaton and Bedworth, three in Rugby, one in the Warwick/Leamington area, and three in the Stratford on Avon area. You can find a full list of the current resourced provisions here.
To find out more about SEND support in Warwickshire visit the Local Offer webpages or like and follow the Local Offer Facebook page.