Over 3,000 extra school places to be created for pupils with the most complex needs
Up to 3,000 new school places are to be created for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), providing tailored support and specialist equipment.
Staffed by specially trained teachers, the 35 new special free schools are expected to from September 2022 onwards and will give pupils with complex needs access to equipment that supports their individual needs such as sensory equipment and communication aids.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has today, Sunday 19 July, announced he has approved 33 school trusts to open and run 37 new schools. Two of these will be solely for children who have been or are at risk of being excluded from mainstream education, to level up their educational outcomes and to keep them engaged in learning. The remaining 35 will help drive up standards in special education, providing support and teaching for pupils with complex needs such as autism, severe learning difficulties or mental health conditions.
The announcement builds on the success of the free school programme, which promotes innovation, with more than 500 already open across the country, including 44 special and 47 Alternative Provision (AP) free schools. These new schools will take advantage of the freedoms and opportunities provided by the free school system to ensure that children with special educational needs and in AP are receiving the tailored support they need to fulfil their potential.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said:
Free schools are new schools set up by parents, teachers, charities, academy trusts and existing schools in response to demand from the local community. Secondary free schools are among the highest performing state-funded schools in the country.
Last month the Prime Minister set out a transformative ten-year rebuilding programme for schools across England, aimed at driving opportunity and prosperity through improvements to the country’s education system. This will start in 2020-21 with the first 50 projects supported by over £1 billion in funding.
These 37 new schools add to the 44 special and 47 AP free schools already open and the 49 special and 8 AP free schools in the pipeline. On completion, it takes the total number of special free schools to 128.
The new schools will be open to some of the most vulnerable children in the country – including those with Education, Health and Care Plans, whose needs have been prioritised throughout the pandemic, with nurseries, schools and colleges remaining open for them where appropriate. Charity grants have also been provided to families on low-incomes with disabled children, to pay for specialist equipment required during the lockdown period.
Children and Families Minister Vicky Ford said:
Dame Christine Lenehan, Director of the National Children’s Bureau, said:
The Government has also taken urgent action to keep children at risk of harm or exploitation safe during the coronavirus outbreak, investing to expand the work of charities on the front line.
Today’s announcement builds on measures announced by the Department for Education to place social workers in more schools to help teachers identify those at risk, and to make £7 million available to pupils leaving AP after their GCSEs this year to help their transition to further education, employment or training. It comes as work on the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Review continues - a cross-governmental review to improve the support children and young people receive so the system works for everyone, in every part of the country.
The Department also has an ambitious programme of action on school behaviour and is working to rapidly improve the availability of good Alternative Provision so that permanently excluded children and children at risk of exclusion receive a high quality education, meaning fewer of them end up becoming not in Education, Employment or Training.
Of the new free schools:
Unity Howard, Director of New Schools Network, said:
Mark Vickers, Chair of the AP and SEND MAT CEO Network, said:
Sarah Dove, President of PRUsAP, said: