Appeal for Lancashire's mainstream schools to create special needs facilities

Lancashire County Council earlier this year invited expressions of interest from schools willing to take on the specialist facilities.

The authority wanted to create 24 of the units, split equally across the primary and secondary sectors.

However, not a single secondary school responded to the appeal. Seven primaries applied, but three have since requested to defer the process because of the Covid crisis.

County Hall intends to create an additional 288 places to meet additional demand and also to address the fact that the proportion of Lancashire SEND pupils educated in special schools is 10 percent higher than the England average, at 42 percent.

Just 0.1 percent of pupils with education, health and care plans – which set out the additional support they require – attend mainstream schools in the county, compared to 4.6 percent across the country.

Cabinet member for education Phillippa Williamson said earlier this year when she made the initial invitation to schools that the proposed units would be “part of the school and school life – and just enable [SEND] pupils to have that little bit of extra support”.

Speaking about the low uptake of the offer, Labour opposition group leader Azhar Ali told a cabinet meeting that schools may need “incentivising” to put themselves forward to house one of the facilities.

County Coun Williamson pledged that the authority would be “very creative and encouraging of schools” when it repeats its appeal.

“One or two schools were understandably put off from making any commitment because of the Covid situation – they wanted to see how things went and get back into running their schools as they are now [before thinking] again,” she added.

The county council had identified six areas where it aimed to introduce two units at both primary and secondary level – one for children with autism spectrum disorders and another for those with social, emotional and mental health needs.

The proposed locations were Lancaster/Morecambe, Fleetwood/Lytham St Annes , Accrington /Burnley, Colne/Nelson, Preston/Leyland and Ormskirk/Skelmersdale.

Successful applications were received from Weeton Primary School, Lytham Church of England Primary School, Barrowford Primary School, and St Leonard’s Church of England Primary School in Padiham.

Formal consultations will now take place following an informal exercise over the summer.

SPECIAL SCHOOLS TO EXPAND

Two secondary-age special schools in Lancashire are set to expand their pupil numbers and the buildings from which they operate.

Subject to the outcome of a formal consultation, Sir Tom Finney Community High School in Preston will open a currently unoccupied upper floor – creating an additional 100 places and improved facilities for its existing 178 students.

Headteacher Shaun Jukes said he was “delighted” that an expansion may be on the horizon.

“It’s quite exciting that we could be able to offer what we do to more pupils.

“Our lower floor is designed for 145 pupils, so we’re actually operating over capacity at the moment.

“There are even more who want to come here and I think the fact that we are in a position to expand upwards rather outwards – and so don’t need more land – has stood us in good stead.

“We have been working with the county council looking at ways to secure funding to expand for several years,” Mr. Jukes added.

The school moved to its current site on Ribbleton Hall Drive in 2015.

Meanwhile, it is proposed that Broadfield Specialist School in Oswaldtwistle relocates to the disused Hameldon Community College in Burnley.

Lancashire County Council says that as well as creating an extra 60 places, the building will be “adapted specifically to meet the special educational needs of the pupils”, offering more space and better facilities.

Lancashire County Council’s cabinet approved the launch of consultations into both proposals and a final decision will be taken at a later date.

INCREASED DEMAND AND FINANCIAL CHALLENGES

A report to the county council’s cabinet reveals that the authority could face a shortfall in its SEND budget of £42m by 2023/24.

The forecast is in line with national projections of a black hole in so-called “high needs” funding – and assumes that there will be no increased day-to-day contributions from the government.

Lancashire has received £3.5m in additional capital funding for all schools from the Department for Education – some of which will be used to expand Sir Tom Finney and rehouse Broadfield – but it has had to transfer £6.5m from its “basic needs” budget for schools to ensure sufficient SEND places are provided.

Meanwhile, the proportion of Lancashire pupils with education, health and care plans increased from 3.1 percent to 3.4 percent in the year to January 2020.

That puts the county marginally above the England average – equating to an extra 214 SEND pupils than would otherwise have been expected.