(UK) Oxfordshire to add 300 new places ($19M US) for SPED students

Dec 10, 2018, Banbury Guardian: Plan to create extra 300 school places for Oxfordshire children with special educational needs https://www.banburyguardian.co.uk/news/education/plan-to-create-extra-300-school-places-for-oxfordshire-children-with-special-educational-needs-1-8735003 A proposal to create 300 new school places for Oxfordshire children with special educational needs (SEND) with a £15m [$19M US dollars] investment have been revealed today (Monday, December 10). Oxfordshire County Council plans to also have 68 places in mainstream schools with ‘resource bases’, including one in Banbury, and spend £9.5m [$12M US dollars] refurbishing Northfield School in Oxford. This would be accompanied by a new school at Bloxham Grove in north Oxfordshire, which is due to open in 2020, and at Valley Park, Didcot, which is planned to open in 2023, as part of a free school application process . … “Our simple aim is to invest in and develop a good quality local provision which meets the needs of children and young people with SEND in Oxfordshire,” she said. … The county council has been conducting a wide-ranging review of its SEND provision after the large increases in the numbers of children with such needs entering education in recent years, which is expected to continue. In addition to the three new special schools, 68 places will be created through new ‘resource bases’ located in mainstream schools. … “The school age population is rising and is forecast to continue to do so due to proposed large scale housing growth together with an increase in numbers of children being diagnosed with SEND needs. “We have seen an increase in the requests for Education and Health Care Needs Assessments since 2013 (77 per cent), some of this is a result of the SEND Reform Act of 2014 which increased the age range from 2-19 to 0-25 years. …