Sept 27, 2024, Chronicle Live: Plans for new SEND school in Newcastle face cash shortage as education boss issues stark warning
NE England
Plans to build a new school in Newcastle for a rapidly rising number of children with special needs remain unfunded and are years away from becoming a reality, a city education chief has warned.
Newcastle City Council wants to build a new school in Byker that would cater for children with autism, amid worries about a lack of provision for youngsters with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It was announced earlier this year that council-owned land in Allendale Road had been earmarked as a location for the school, which could support almost up to 192 children and young people aged four to 16.
But councillors were told this week that the project is yet to get off the ground, lacking sufficient funding to progress, and the site is expected to be at least four years away from opening. The number of children and young people with Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs) has increased to 2,769 in 2024, a massive rise of 86% since 2019, and there have long been concerns about an increasing need and lack of capacity in existing special schools – with the biggest area of need being pupils with autism.
Thomas Bewick School, which provides specialist places for children and young people with autism, has seen its pupil roll increase from 102 in 2013 to 346. Asked by Heaton Labour councillor Clare Penny-Evans on Tuesday whether Newcastle has sufficient capacity to support its SEND children, council assistant director of education Mark Patton gave a stark assessment of the situation.
Mr Patton told the council’s overview and scrutiny committee: “No, we don’t have enough provision. Currently, some children have to be educated outside the boundaries of the city because their needs are such that we don’t have the very specific kinds of care and educational delivery that they need. And those numbers are growing.
“We are in the process of trying to secure capital funding, there is a gap at the moment to build a new specialist school in the city. The biggest growth around primary need is autism and that is why the proposed school is to deliver for children and young people with that as their primary need, to enable them to be educated close to their communities.” . . .
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He added: “Our best guess around the special school is that we expect it to open in around four years’ time, but I would not want to be held to account for that at the moment. We have not procured a construction partner or an education delivery provider and that is because we don’t have the funding yet. The first step for this school is to secure that funding.”
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