Oct 28, 2024, Grimsby Teleg2raph: Grimsby MP highlights £1.3m [$1.7M] cost of SEND children going to schools out of the area
NE England
North East Lincolnshire Council says it aims to create more than 200 new specialist school places by 2027
North East Lincolnshire Council plans an increase of more than 200 school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) between 2025 and 2027.
It comes as Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes MP Melanie Onn has highlighted that the authority spent £1.3m [$1.7M] last year sending children out of area to SEND settings. The council has already pushed forward two new primary schools in Scartho and Waltham, which will include school places for SEND children.
These schools are expected to be open for the school year starting September 2025. The council also remains committed to plans for a 150-place free school for children who have difficulties with their social, emotional and mental health, aged eight to 19 years old.
The council says it wants to make more special education provision available so children do not have to go out of the borough. There will be an extra 12 spaces available at Cambridge Park Special School, specifically for children aged 14 to 19 years old who have autism or a learning disability. Planning permission was granted this summer to expand its sixth form in Cromwell Road.
After the success of the Launchpad scheme, launched last year at Littlecoates Primary Academy, there will be 50 more spaces created in the borough through this in total in the next two years. . . .
£1.3m [$1.7M] on out of area SEND
On Thursday, Ms Onn said in a parliamentary debate on SEND: "Last year alone, my local authority of North East Lincolnshire spent £1.3 million sending 114 children out of area to special educational needs settings." She asked for assurance for her constituents that government actions "will not only support local authorities and reduce these additional costs, but provide the kind of education their children need closer to home".
School Standards Minister Catherine McKinnell said the purpose of government education changes is "to ensure that inclusive mainstream education is available to all children and that there are specialist places for children with the most complex needs".
Brigg and Immingham MP Martin Vickers said at a recent constituency school visit: "It was put to me that not all schools fully participate in dealing with special needs children, and my casework over the years substantiates that." Ms McKinnell responded that all schools are part of "solving this huge challenge that far too many children and families face".
This was why the Government is changing how Ofsted does assessments, doing a curriculum and assessment review, and looking at local authority co-operation with schools "to ensure that inclusive mainstream education is available for all".
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