Schools share £3.2m for more SEND places

Three schools are set to receive a share of £3m to provide more places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) across Derbyshire.

At a cabinet meeting on Thursday, Derbyshire County Council approved the £3,195,777 worth of funding to provide 500 more spaces across schools in Ilkeston, Long Eaton and Belper.

The announcement follows the council's £11m budget in July to increase the number of school places for children with special educational needs by around 300 over the next two years.

The scheme includes adaptations to existing buildings, the provision of suitable outdoor facilities and specialist equipment, said the council.

The capital funding will be spent on projects at Bennerley Fields School in Ilkeston, Stanton Vale Special School in Long Eaton and the Holbrook School for Autism in Belper.

Derbyshire County Council said the new places would be "better geographically spread and be accessible to as many Derbyshire families with high-needs children as possible", rather than building new special schools in specific areas.

At Bennerley Fields School, the council approved a £2.6m plan to create three additional classrooms to accommodate 24 pupils, with possible expansion to 30 pupils from September 2025.

The cabinet initially approved £320,000 in July for a project to refurbish an existing wing at Stanton Vale Special School in Long Eaton, to create 22 additional places for pupils with SEND from September 2024, increasing to 35 places by September 2025.

The council said the cost of the project had increased, and an additional £230,000 was required to progress the project.

At Holbrook School for Autism in Belper, £250,000 was approved in June 2021 to enable the first phase of a project at the school, which would be managed by the Esteem Multi-Academy Trust (EMAT).

The authority said this would create two additional places for pupils with autism spectrum disorder and severe learning difficulties.

Phase two of the project would allow EMAT to "self-manage the refurbishment and remodelling" of the nearby Whitemoor Centre building to accommodate additional pupils with SEND.

The council said interim funding of £365,777 was approved at the meeting to reimburse EMAT for its costs to date.

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