Rotherham Council creates 13 additional SEND resource bases with 100+ places

At a meeting earlier this morning, the cabinet agreed to the creation of 13 new SEND (Special educational needs and disabilities) resource bases across the borough which would open up an extra 140 SEND places for children.

The cabinet heard that the original plan was to create 10 new bases for 100 places – but there was too much interest.

The 13 participating schools are Thrybergh Academy Secondary (10 places), Winterhill Academy Secondary (10), Dinnington Academy Secondary (10), St Pius Catholic High School Secondary (10), Wales High Secondary Communication and Interaction (20), Brinsworth Academy Secondary (10), Dalton Foljambe Primary (10), Bramley Sunnyside Primary (10), Meadow View Primary (10), Highfield Farm Primary (10), Thurcroft Junior Academy Primary Communication and Interaction (10), Maltby Manor Academy Primary (10), Brinsworth Whitehill Primary Communication and Interaction (10).

The creation of these units will cost £3.3m.

Cllr Victoria Cusworth, the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said the first additional places would be available from September.

In a supporting document, RMBC says that almost one in five (19.7 per cent) pupils in Rotherham have a statutory plan of Special Educational Need or Disability (SEND) with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) or are receiving SEND support.

This is slightly higher than the national average (17.4 per cent in English Metropolitan Boroughs).

Cllr Chris Read, the Leader of the Council, said: “We know from the stories we hear that for too many parents with children with special educational needs it is just too difficult to get into appropriate school places.

“Not just in Rotherham but right across the country parents are given difficult decisions to make about the journeys that they have to make, their children have to make; about travel times.

“This is a significant amount of money that will ease those pressures and help more Rotherham children to get appropriate education right here in the borough and, actually in many cases, very close to where they live.”