Meeting documents

To receive presentation.

The purpose of this item is to give the Committee the opportunity to gain an understanding of issues and the opportunity to discuss them.

The presentation and links to relevant background information will be circulated prior to the meeting.

Note – the Chair will allow 45 minutes for this agenda item.

The Chair welcomed the Council’s Assistant Director, Education Partnerships and Skills, Amelia Walker, the Assistant Director Inclusion, Dr Rob Hart and the Strategic Manager, Phil Curd to the meeting for this agenda item. They provided a PowerPoint presentation which offered an overview of school and early years places.

The Committee noted the pupil numbers in Somerset schools, key trends, challenges and pressures on school places and the action being taken and the growth of specialist places and the significant rise in the number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), the challenges and response.

From 2018 the local authority has delivered 10 significant special school and resource base projects providing 306 additional places at a cost of £49.25m. A £4.75m expansion project is underway at Sky Academy, providing another 40 places in time for September 2022. Thereis also a £2m capital approval available to deliver a specialist hub for up to 40 children in West Somerset and officers are working with the DfE to deliver a new special free school in South Somerset for 120 children. In addition, officers are working with mainstream secondary schools to deliver a number of ‘Enhanced Learning Provisions’ which will those schools to support children’s needs and reduce demand for places in special schools. Another project will deliver a Therapeutic Education provision for a small number of children - the Council’s High Needs Capital Allocation will underpin this.

The Committee additionally received an overview of early years provision and the key challenges and risks, immediate pressures in terms of workforce, sustainability and viability and how this is being tackled and also the issue of school transport.

The Committee had a broad discussion on the issues highlighted, covering – school capacity and pupil place planning; the take up of places in early years and why some places aren’t being taken up; special educational needs and disability numbers; the new Education White Paper and academisation, which the Committee will look at in the future; clarification that although projections showed the school population might be reducing in future years, there are no plans to close schools; school transport issues; the opportunities available for people to become school governors.

On behalf of the Committee the Chair thanked Ms Walker, Dr Hart and Mr Curd for the informative presentation.