Sefton Council to Offer 100 More SEN School Places

From September 2024, Sefton Council will be able to offer over 100 more, much needed school places for children with Special Educational Needs enabling children to go to school locally and making a potential saving of over £6 million that can be invested back into the service.

The school places will be across both primary and secondary settings and allow for children with Special Educational Needs to attend mainstream school provision within Sefton and be supported in that environment to thrive.

Better Outcomes 
The work will focus on renovating existing buildings and classrooms to make them suitable for children with additional needs and it will allow for children to attend school locally and avoid expensive independent provision or provision outside of the borough that can be disruptive and less than ideal for families. It is estimated that savings here could total up to £6.5million that can be spent on further expanding SEN provision and services in Sefton.

Cllr Diane Roscoe, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Schools said:

“Being able to provide suitable school places for our children to thrive is a real priority for us. We know there is a growing need in our community for SEN places and are pursuing every avenue available to us to grow the SEN provision in Sefton to meet that need.

“The creation of these new places will not only save a significant amount of money versus out of borough or independent provision but we know that parents and families want their child to be supported and given the tools to thrive in a local setting that’s right for them.”

Specialist Support
One project, signed off by Sefton’s Cabinet, will focus on Marshside Primary School and the establishment of a new SEN Unit at the school. The SEN Unit will offer the increasing number of pupils displaying social and communication interaction difficulties the benefit from attending a mainstream school, whilst also receiving specialist input relevant to the child’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Local Support
The SEN Unit will offer an inclusive provision for pupils who require arrangements over and above that which a mainstream school can provide through an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). Works at other school across Sefton will focus on similar types of provision.

Works will now commence across 8 schools to ensure additional places are available from September 2024. The additional capacity will allow both new students and existing students who already have an EHCP to be better supported.