(UK) Somerset: $11.4M to add 15 new SEND units to existing schools; "young people with EHCPs rising"
- The end of childhood
- Sep 11, 2025
- 2 min read
Sept 10, 2025, Somerset County Gazette: New special needs units to open at four Somerset schools
New special needs units will be up and running at four Somerset schools before January 2026, Somerset Council has promised.
Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are usually educated in one of two contexts: either at specialist schools constructed by the council, or within mainstream schools in line with agreed education, health and care plans (EHCPs).
The council has faced numerous challenges on this front in recent years, with existing specialist schools operating at full capacity and the number of young people with EHCPs rising.
These issues have in turn led to higher transport costs to the council from transporting SEND children to specialist providers further afield, and to numerous complaints made by parents to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) when EHCPs are not reviewed in a timely fashion.
To address these problems, the council decided in March that 15 new SEND pupil units will be created within existing schools, allowing more SEND children to have a normal education.
The council has now confirmed that the first four of these units will be open for pupils by January 2026 at the latest, with others expected to follow suit in the coming months. . . .
Each of these units will be able to handle between six and eight pupils, depending on the complexity of the children's needs.
The fourth school - Holway Park Community Primary School in Taunton - will see its existing "autism centre" expanded with an additional 12 places, allowing it to accommodate up to 40 pupils whose needs "cannot be met within a mainstream classroom". . . .
The council received around £8.4m [$11.4M] of DfE funding to this end for the 2025/26 financial year.
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