(UK) St. Helens: $553K for 32 place elem school for "complex ASD"

Oct 13, 2024, St. Helen Star: Plans to use Four Ways Children's Centre, St Helens for SEND Education

https://www.sthelensstar.co.uk/news/24645749.plans-use-four-ways-childrens-centre-st-helens-send-education/

NW England

An application in relation to Four Ways Children’s Centre, on Burnage Avenue, Clock Face has been listed on the council’s planning portal.

This seeks permission for a change of use from a day centre to SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) education.

It is proposed for pupils from Rectory CE Primary in Garswood to be relocated to the site.

An application form in the plans says the proposal is to “relocate a cohort of SEN children from Rectory CE Primary School to Four Ways Children’s Learning Centre.”

A description of the proposals in the plans states that the council’s approved budget for 2024/25 included “a savings target of £424k [$553K] to be achieved by reducing the number of operational children’s centres to three (which would operate as family hubs)”.

This adds that the local authority “is in receipt of capital funding from the DFE for expansion /improvement of places for children with Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs)”. . . .

 “This would operate as a 32-place satellite provision by Rectory CE Primary school for more complex ASD (autism spectrum disorder) children”.

The document adds: “This proposal represents an efficient use of public resource which could be delivered at a fraction of the cost of the initial proposal to demolish and replace the modular building on the school and moreover could accommodate more children. . . .