Issue details
Education and Early Years Basic Need and High Needs Capital Report
The Council has a statutory duty to provide sufficient places in schools and early years settings. This report details and updates the progress made on existing projects to meet demand for places as projected in January 2021.
The Council also has a statutory duty to secure sufficient school places to meet the needs of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This report provides an update on progress of existing projects to meet demand for SEND places as well as setting out the Council’s approach to consultation and the proposals for the High Needs Capital Provision Grant.
The Executive Member is asked to agree the proposals contained within the report.
Decision type: Key
Reason Key: Affects more than 1 ward;
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Wards affected: (All Wards);
Notice of proposed decision first published: 21/10/2022
This decision will be taken under urgency procedures.
Reason for urgency:
To ensure the Council can deliver additional school places on time, including mainstream primary, secondary school places and SEND places. Due to ongoing pressures, the Council cannot afford to delay this decision as doing so would mean the Council would be unable to discharge its statutory duty to meet demand for places and would likely incur additional costs if the projects detailed in the report do not progress promptly.
Decision due: 16 Dec 2022 by Executive Member for Children's Services
Lead member: Executive Member for Children's Services
Lead director: Corporate Director Children and Families
Department: Children and Families
Contact: Sarah Butters, Head of Early Years, School Places and Access Email: sarah.butters@trafford.gov.uk.
Consultation process
Further consultation will be required as changes to schools’ status including closure, expansion, amalgamation and new schools are subject to statutory consultation processes and these will be complied with for each scheme. All proposals will subject to other statutory processes as required, including school organisation processes for making significant changes to provision and planning processes
Individual consultation on the larger schemes has been carried out with appropriate Headteachers and Chair of Governors. Further, more detailed, consultation will be carried out with Governing Bodies if the schemes contained within the report are agreed.
A public consultation was announced on 30 September 2022 inviting comments on the proposals and any additional ideas for how we should spend the High Needs Provision Capital Allocation (HNPCA) funding 2022-24. The consultation period ran from 30 September 2022 until 14 October 2022. A total of 20 responses were received, 18 from parents and carers and 2 from schools or settings. 12 agreed with the proposals, 6 did not agree and 2 were unsure if they agreed. Those that did not agree outlined that they felt the proposals didn’t go far enough to support additional places in secondary or further education opportunities. All feedback received can be found in Appendix C of the report.
Decisions
Documents
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