09.07.20
Council proposes £8.1m scheme for hundreds more SEND school places
Leicester City Council has proposed an £8.1m programme (July 9) to create new school places and provisions for children with additional education needs.
Three special education schools in the city would be extended to offer extra facilities, and a further 10 schools across the city will have Designated Specialist Provision (DSP) and Specialist Units created.
In total, 228 permanent new school places for children with special educational needs would be created, reducing costs from placing children in schools located further from the city.
Leicester Partnership School in Knighton, Ellesmere College in Rowley Fields and Netherhall Special School in Netherhall would be among those set to benefit from the project.
Ellesmere’s proposed work would cost almost £3.6m and would include a relocation to a separate site with six new classrooms, assembly room and student’ common room, totalling 60-70 new SEND places.
The Leicestershire Partnership School would see a £1.8m investment to enhance facilities and enable 40 more permanent places for pupils.
Nertherhall would receive an investment of just under £1.5m, permanently increasing capacity by 30 pupils, through three new classrooms, new toilets, kitchen, meeting room, laundry room, changing space and outdoor soft landscaping.
Leicester assistant city mayor for education and housing, Cllr Elly Cutkelvin, said:
“Special school places are already in high demand, and this is expected to rise further over the coming years, so investment is required now to ensure we can meet that need.
“The combination of both expanding these three existing schools, and creating more Designated Specialist Provision places, means we can ensure more children get the extra support required to access education, and in the case of the DSPs, doing so while ensuring children can still benefit as much as possible from being within a mainstream setting.”
98 DSPs have been proposed for schools across the city, totalling £1.2m with work to begin on all sites in September 2020, and complete by January 2021.
LISTEN: Ep. 17 The wider impact of Covid-19 on our children - Cllr Fiona Venner