(UK) Frome: School may be adding special needs classroom; number of SPED kids "rising"
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Feb 20, 2026, Somerset Live: Spare space in Frome school could become special needs unit
Spare space at a Frome school could be repurposed to provide more special needs provision for local children.
Vallis First School lies on Milk Street west of the town centre, and currently has 207 pupils on its roll between the ages of four and nine (Reception to Year 4), according to the Department for Education (DfE).
Frome is one of the few parts of Somerset to have a three-tier school system (comprising first, middle and high schools), with the majority of the county operating under a two-tier system (comprising primary and secondary).
Somerset Council seeks to consult with parents, teachers and governors in the near-future on shifting to the latter system, repeating the reforms implemented in the Crewkerne and Ilminster catchments in September 2022.
The council's executive committee agreed Vallis' admission arrangements for the coming school year, which will see a maximum of 30 new pupils joining in Reception year – down from 56 the previous year.
Phil Curd, the council's head of education places, has now revealed that the school could permanently lose one of its mainstream classrooms to allow more space to be provided for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Mr Curd made the announcement at the end of a lengthy executive committee meeting in Taunton on February 11, which also includes lower admissions for two schools in or near Bridgwater and one near Wellington.
He said: "Because of the introduction of the Steiner free school 10 or 12 years ago, which is now Avanti Park School, we have a significant over-supply of school places within the Frome system.
"After half term, we will launch a formal consultation around the potential move to a two-tier system in Frome.
"If the community comes back and says it has appetite for such a move, we will then come back with some more detailed proposals, including converting some of the mainstream places into specialist places, allowing us to meet need at that end of the county."
SEND children are usually educated in one of two contexts: either at specialist schools constructed by Somerset Council, or within mainstream schools in line with agreed education, health and care plans (EHCPs).
The council has faced numerous challenges on this front in recent years, with existing specialist schools operating at full capacity and the number of young people with EHCPs rising.
These issues have in turn led to higher transport costs to the council from transporting SEND children to specialist providers further afield, and to numerous complaints made by parents to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) when EHCPs are not reviewed in a timely fashion.
The council decided in March 2025 that 15 new SEND pupil units will be created within existing schools, allowing more SEND children to have a normal education.
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