What is this consultation about?
The Local Authority has a statutory duty to keep under review the provision it makes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) whilst also ensuring there are sufficient specialist places available to meet the needs of the growing SEND population.
Bradford has experienced a significant increase in demand for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision in the last 10 years. It is projected that the demand for SEND provision in Bradford will continue to grow and it has been identified that additional specialist places across all sectors in the Bradford District are required. This initial consultation is to share and gather information on the development of further specialist provision places to enhance the current specialist provision offer across the District.
It is projected that the demand for SEND provision will continue to grow and that in 2019/2020 a minimum of 354 additional specialist places across all sectors in the Bradford District will be required. The School Forum has agreed to fund the revenue budget for these additional places from the High Needs Block (HNB) part of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), however this is being balanced against a limited capital budget.
To maximise the opportunities for expansion and creation of new provision we will be looking at the possibilities of expanding and re-configuring existing spaces to maximise the capital allocation.
In 2017/18 a consultation was undertaken to increase SEND provision and the below developments were agreed in April 2018 by the Council Executive and the Regional Schools Commissioner:
• 116 additional maintained Special School Places
• 54 additional Designated Specialist Provision (DSP) places in maintained schools
• 28 additional Early Years Enhanced Specialist Provision (EYESP) places
• 74 additional Academy Special School places
• 23 additional Designated Specialist Provision (DSP) places in academy schools
• 40 additional PRU places
In 2019/2020 we propose to increase the amount of specialist places available through a range of services by expanding and developing further specialist provision to enhance the network of Special Schools, Early Years Enhanced Specialist provision (EYESPs), Designated Specialist Provision (DSPs) and create new Resourced Provision (RP) places in mainstream schools, that are required to meet the current and future needs of children and young people with a range of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
We are proposing to develop an additional 354 specialist places throughout the District.
We are exploring all available opportunities for the development of these much needed specialist places and will also be considering schools with falling rolls as there maybe opportunities for utilising existing available space by way of re-configuring unutilised space to maximise the capital budget we have available.
We are now seeking the views of all stakeholders and interested parties on the development of an additional 354 specialist places to be delivered within the Bradford District.
How to send your views
Your views are important to us, please take a few minutes to answer our short questionnaire by following the link; https://surveys.bradford.gov.uk/snapwebhost/s.asp?k=155257901249
or if you would prefer a paper copy of this questionnaire or any of the documents, please telephone 01274 438260 or email SENDPlacesConsultation@bradford.gov.uk.
Where to find out more information
We are also holding a number of public consultation meetings. Please see details of the scheduled events below:
• Monday, 25 March, 1.30pm to 3pm, Margaret McMillan Tower, Bradford BD1 1NN
• Tuesday, 9 April, 5:30pm to 7pm, Margaret McMillan Tower, Bradford BD1 1NN
• Tuesday, 9 April, 10am to 11.30am, Keighley Library Annexe, Spencer Street, Keighley BD21 2BN
When does this consultation end?
The initial consultation period will end on Thursday, 11th April, please ensure we have your comments and/or completed questionnaire by this date at the latest.
Supporting documents