(UK) Norfolk: New special schools for 270 held up for lack of funds
- The end of childhood
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May 12, 2025, Eastern Daily Press: Anger as vital new schools for almost 300 children hit by 'frustrating' hold-up
E. England
Two vitally-needed new Norfolk schools have been delayed, affecting hundreds of pupils and heaping further pressure on stretched council budgets.
New special schools for Great Yarmouth and Downham Market, to take in 270 pupils, were approved in 2023, but the schemes are in limbo because the government has yet to stump up the money.
Millions of pounds is needed to build the new free schools for SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) youngsters. But Norfolk County Council officials' hopes they would be built and open for September next year have been dashed.
Even though academy trust sponsors are in place to run the schools - at the North Denes school site in Great Yarmouth and Ryston End in Downham Market - the council has heard nothing from the Department for Education (DfE) about the money.
There are concerns that, because the government is in the midst of a review of SEND funding and policy, decisions over money for the Norfolk schools has been put on ice.
County Hall officials have confirmed the planned 2026 opening dates have had to be pushed back to 2027 at a time when pressure - and the costs - for specialist school placements is rising.
Penny Carpenter, the council's cabinet member for children's services, said: "We urgently need the government to release the capital investment for the two schools, which were approved nearly two years ago.
"We want children with additional needs to be able to go to schools as close to their homes as possible.
"This delay will have a negative impact on some of our children with the highest needs because they may have longer to wait for the right school place, or have to travel further to access a special school."
The Conservative-controlled county council, which needs to make another £41.5m [$55M] of cuts and savings to balance the books next year, has seen "unprecedented" demand and costs in children's services.
That includes spending millions of pounds on transport to get children to school and having to pay independent providers to educate youngsters.
County Hall has even offered to build the schools, which would cost about £20m [$27M] each, itself, but the DfE has not responded to that suggestion. . . .
Mrs Carpenter said: "The delay is not only impacting on our children, but is having a significant financial impact on our SEND budget, which is already in substantial deficit.
"It means we will be faced with increased costs in the independent sector and additional travel costs that weren’t budgeted for in our funding agreement with the government.
"We acknowledge the DfE is currently undertaking a major review of all aspects of SEND policy at the national level and that this is complex work. . . .
"Whilst we agree mainstream inclusion should be a key priority, we also need to have sufficient state special school places for children with the most complex needs."
The DfE said work on special schools continued and each project needed to be assessed for value for money.
The department said it was prioritising decisions on schools "due to open in the shorter term".. . .
"We are already making progress by investing £1bn [$1.3B] into SEND and £740m [$984M] to encourage councils to create more specialist places in mainstream schools, paving the way for significant, long-term reform. . . .
The Downham Market school would cater for 100 pupils and the Great Yarmouth one would have spaces for 170 children.
County Hall is creating a dozen specialist resource bases so children can get SEND support in mainstream schools, although the need to test grass has held up plans at Acle Academy.
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