A £1.66 million addition to the 2026/2027 Education Capital Programme was approved at the latest meeting of Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet.
The funding will be used to deliver improvements to safeguarding, accessibility, and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision, with a significant focus on reducing travel times for vulnerable students.
The approved allocations aim to ensure that all mainstream and specialist schools across Warwickshire continue to offer accessible and high-quality learning environments. The investments closely align with the Warwickshire Education Sufficiency Strategy 2024–2029, which prioritises providing the right school places, in the right areas and at the right time.
Key Investments in the 2026/2027 Programme
The £1.66 million funding package - comprising High Needs Provision Capital Allocation, Basic Need Funding, and targeted developer contributions - will be distributed across several key projects:
Disability Access Capital Works (£400,000): A dedicated fund to implement reasonable adjustments, such as hygiene facilities, outdoor ramping, and widened thresholds, ensuring pupils with disabilities have equal access to the curriculum and their physical environment.
Safeguarding and Security Enhancements (£400,000): A continuation of a phased approach to upgrade perimeter fencing across the maintained school estate, addressing security concerns and ensuring a safe environment for students and staff.
Brooke School, Rugby (£525,000): Remodelling of an under-utilised building to create 34 additional specialist places for young people with Learning and Cognition difficulties, addressing high local demand and preventing the need for costly out-of-area transport.
Bilton School, Rugby (£234,000): A complete redesign and expansion of ground-floor washroom facilities to increase capacity, improve accessibility, and create a calmer, more easily supervised environment for students.
Ashlawn School, Rugby (£77,000): The creation of a new, specialist resourced provision for up to 45 pupils with Communication and Interaction (C&I) needs. Subject to Department for Education approval, this project will repurpose existing spaces to include calm rooms and dedicated classrooms, allowing local children to access specialist support within a mainstream secondary setting.
Burton Green CofE Academy, Kenilworth (£26,000): Reconfiguration of access routes and facilities to support the establishment of a new preschool, providing 13 much-needed early years childcare places for the local community.
Commitment to Value
By increasing SEND capacity within local communities like Rugby and Kenilworth, the Council anticipates a reduction in the distance pupils need to travel for appropriate education, which reduces the financial demands on home-to-school transport budgets.
Cllr Wayne Briggs, Warwickshire County Council Portfolio Holder for Education said: “We are seeing an increasing and evolving need for specialist education provision across the county and this investment is a clear demonstration of our commitment to ensuring every child in Warwickshire has access to safe, supportive, and high-quality education.
“Through investment in dedicated resourced provisions within our mainstream schools and expanding our specialist settings, we are ensuring that children with special educational needs can learn closer to home and that our schools are fit for the future.”
Cllr Stephen Shaw, Warwickshire County Council Portfolio Holder for Finance and Property, added: "This programme is a prime example of how we are managing the Council's property and financial resources to deliver maximum impact for our communities. By successfully securing and directing developer contributions alongside targeted government grants, we are able to fund essential upgrades and expansions without placing an additional burden on local taxpayers.
"From a financial perspective, investing in our own school estates to create local specialist provision makes clear economic sense. By reducing our reliance on independent specialist placements and costly home-to-school transport, we can ensure that our high needs funding is deployed as effectively and efficiently as possible."
A copy of the Cabinet paper can be found here: May 2026 Cabinet: Additions to the Education Capital Programme 2026/2027