Two Sheffield primary schools have been given funding to increase their places for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
In response to the growing educational needs of students with SEND, Sheffield City Council is introducing an Integrated Resource (IR) system in both Woodlands Primary School and Nether Edge Primary School.
The schools are both part of the Mercia Learning Trust, which will deliver the provision for the additional SEND places.
The council plans has approved just over £500,000 of funding to provide up to 15 additional places at Nether Edge and 20 at Woodlands which both cater for pupils aged 4 to 11 years old, particularly those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and speech, language and communication conditions.
The funding will help with improving current outdoor space at Woodlands including a covered area for outdoor learning , creating a calm space and developing motoring skills. Nether Edge Primary will benefit from the money going towards localised provision which will reduce travelling time and and the cost of SEND travel on the local authority.
However, a SEND parent has told of the difficulty/complexity of addressing the diverse needs of SEND children.
Adam Murphy, who has a 27-year-old son with ASD, emphasized the complexity of the issue.
He said: “It’s a very difficult question to answer. One size doesn’t fit all. Some (students) will require special schools, while others will not. Simply paying an amount and calling it this or that and keeping all children in school doesn’t seem like a good idea. Children with special educational needs are already being failed and being refused places in special schools, some will and do struggle in the mainstream.”
Adam and his son, provided by Adam Murphy
Damian Watkinson, the city council’s Finance Manager, said during the council meeting: “We’re making a grant to the Mercia Learning Trust of a total of £520k for them to deliver an integrated resource for SEND at Woodlands and Nether Edge schools and that will be up to to 35 places across those two sites.
“We’ve had an increasing cost at Halfway where the windows and door replacement scheme further surveys identified additional work which was required and access to some of the windows is difficult. There’s been a small increasing cost at Bents Green for a residential conversion that we’re doing to provide solo placements for looked after children.”
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