(UK) Newcastle: Lack of funds for 'much-needed' 192 place autism school

June 30, 2025, Chronicle: Plans to build 'much-needed' new SEND school in Newcastle still unfunded

Newcastle City Council has seen two bids for Government funding to build a new school in Byker for children with autism rejected

Council bosses in Newcastle still do not have the money to build a “much-needed” school for children with autism. Plans were unveiled in February 2024 for a specialist school in Byker that could support almost 200 children and young people aged four to 16.

But, almost 18 months later, the project remains unfunded. City councillors were told last week that two bids for Government money to pay for the new school had been turned down by the Department for Education. Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said last week that Labour had invested £740 million to create more places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) within mainstream schools.

It comes amid serious concerns about the escalating number of youngsters with additional needs, with the total number of North East children with education, health and care (EHC) plans increasing from 26,258 to 29,396 last year, and a funding crisis that threatens to push local councils across the country into bankruptcy. According to the Department for Education’s latest statistics, 33% of children and young people in the North East with an EHC plan have a primary need of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Mark Patton, Newcastle City Council’s assistant director of education and skills, said that the need for the Byker school was only increasing and that work had been done to reduce the cost of the scheme. He told a meeting of the council’s overview and scrutiny committee last Thursday: “We continue to work to identify alternative sources for that, while hoping that there will be a redirection of the national focus on mainstream rather than specialist settings.

“In principle, we would all agree that if a child is able to thrive in a mainstream school with their peers that is absolutely the right thing for them. But we also acknowledge that there are some young people and children who require such specialist interventions and support that a mainstream school would not be able to deliver without detriment to other children.

“There is undoubtedly still space, not just in Newcastle but nationally, for specialist provision and that need is increasing. But the funding to support that at the moment is clearly going towards mainstream schools.”

The proposed school, which would have 192 places, would be built on the site of a council office block and depot in Allendale Road that is earmarked for demolition. A council report said that the authority was seeking to integrate children from special schools back into mainstream settings, and had successfully moved nine children from Thomas Bewick School into mainstream schools in the last two academic years, but that the Byker plan was still “much-needed”.