Question:
Could the responsible Executive Member for Children's Services update the Council on the latest plans to deliver SEND facilities within Wokingham Borough?
Minutes:
Could the responsible Executive Member for Children’s Services update the Council on the latest plans to deliver SEND facilities within Wokingham Borough?
Answer:
Our plan of action for development of SEND facilities in the coming years includes:
• The opening of Oak Tree Special School ultimately providing a total of 150 places of which 75 will be for Wokingham children which will open in September 2023
• The expansion of Addington Special School in Autumn 2023 with 40 additional places for younger pupils in the Farley Hill site as a satellite to the main school.
• Two new special schools with funding already secured from the DfE providing at least 200 new places by 2026/27. One is for pupils with social emotional and mental health difficulties and the other for pupils with cognitive difficulties.
• Wokingham recently successfully bid for an additional £6.3m high needs capital funding from the DfE which will provide the following:
- Re-configuring our existing services in mainstream schools to make resource bases more effective and introduce a new higher tier of support through SEND units providing around an additional 100 places by 2026.
- new local services for post-16’s with SEND with a focus on routes into employment.
• Investing in a new SEND support service and local specialist outreach services to build confidence and skills in mainstream settings, so that more children can go to their local school.
Supplementary Question:
Thank you for the answer, Prue, and for holding a meeting with the various Ward Members who had an interest in the two SEND schools for Hatch Farm. I would like to say that some Wokingham children travel a long way to Ascot and Newbury, and I have no doubt that these extra schools will make life for the parents and the children much better. It is important to recognise that no children must be left behind so I welcome these schools and I expect our residents will also.
Can I ask that we have better PR on SEND schools, using simple English to explain to our residents the need to have different schools to meet the children’s needs? In the consultation ending tomorrow, can I ask that it be recognised in SEND provision that one size does not fit all, especially for the over 16’s? but thank you for your explanation so far. It is very welcome and very positive.
Supplementary Answer:
The consultation you are referring to, I think, is the Home to School Transport consultation. There is no doubt at all that many of our children with Special Educational Needs are needing to travel a long way, and having schools in the Borough will help them with shorter journeys, but also help our Home to School transport bill, which has unfortunately risen by about 90% in the last 5 years. It has gone from £3million to £5.8millon, and it is ever expanding, and we cannot live with that sort of increase, and we are going to have to make changes to our Home to School Transport Policy, and consider how we can make the money stretch as far as possible. Certainly, the new provision will help children in all those ways, and I am very pleased that we are able to do it.