Forty places for children with special needs are to be created across four Warwickshire primary schools

Forty places for children with special needs are to be created across four Warwickshire primary schools, including Rugby.

Warwickshire County Council’s cabinet – the team of Conservative councillors in charge – voted through a £192,000 spend on adjustments to mainstream schools to cater for children with communication and interaction and social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs.

The idea is to bridge the gap between solely specialist and mainstream schooling, enabling those children who can learn in a mainstream environment to do so.

The council’s report notes that “demand for this specialist provision is expected to continue to rise, with the level of demand anticipated to be highest in (the boroughs of) Nuneaton & Bedworth and Rugby”.

All four of the projects are scheduled to be completed in time for September 2023.

In Rugby, St Andrew’s Benn Primary School is to take eight pupils with a mix of needs, receiving £28,000 to “refurbish and remodel available existing space within the school, create a separate entrance to a new sensory room and upgrade an outdoor play area with fencing and new flooring”.

St Matthew’s Bloxam Primary School is in line for £26,000 to “remodel underutilised existing space within the school and create a separate entrance” for eight children with SEMH needs. An outdoor play area will also be upgraded.

Abbey Infant School in Nuneaton will receive £48,000 to accommodate eight pupils with communication and interaction difficulties, while Goodyers End Primary School, Bedworth, will get £89,000 as it seeks to cater for 16 pupils with SEMH.

The money is coming from Department for Education (DfE) grants and money collected from housing developers.

Each school is an academy, meaning they are not run or financed by Warwickshire County Council.

While welcoming the plans generally, Councillor John Holland (Lab, Warwick West) queried how quality would be assured.

Councillor Kam Kaur (Con, Bilton & Hillside), the county’s portfolio holder for education, said: “Regardless of whether they are maintained or academies, we know there is a demand for SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) provision and a requirement to try to encourage children being educated in mainstream schools.

“The more projects that we can get such as these (the better). They are very good for the inclusion and integration of children and social upbringing, and to encourage other schools to take on children with more specialist needs so I really welcome this.

“We have our improvement team who engage with headteachers plus quarterly meetings and headteacher forums.

“In these specific cases, we have Ofsted and that is the reason they go in to see the equality and inclusion of schools. There is a rounded approach on monitoring the performance around this.”

What do you think of this story? Let us know your views by emailing [email protected]