Column: We're delighted our county will benefit from new special free school

Coun Sam Smith is Nottinghamshire County Council's cabinet member for children and SEND. (Photo by Tracey Whitefoot)

As you’ll be aware, Nottinghamshire County Council has experienced an increase in requests for education, health and care plans (EHCP) – some of which identify the need for specialist school places, says Coun Sam Smith, NCC cabinet member for children and SEND.

This is why one of our key priorities is to develop additional local special school capacity over the next three years to ensure that every child across our county has access to a good education in the right environment.

Therefore, I am delighted that the county council is to benefit from a new special free school as part of an initiative announced by the Department for Education (DfE) – which will provide specialist support for 160 SEND pupils from across the county, aged between four and 19.

The DfE will fund and build the school, directly supporting our target to create 490 additional SEND school and alternative provision places by 2026 to address the growing demand for more specialist school places across the county.

This latest announcement comes just a few weeks after an extra £16m funding from the DfE for SEND places and alternative provision in Nottinghamshire was confirmed.

It is important to note that the new school is in addition to the £20 million that we are investing in a new 160-place SEND school in Mansfield – which is due to open next year.

This builds on work which has taken place to increase school capacity across Nottinghamshire, including delivering an additional 97 specialist educational places between 2021 and 2023 through an investment of more than £5m.

The county council is also continuing to work in partnership with several schools and education trusts to develop increased capacity across Nottinghamshire.

"This builds on work to increase school capacity across Notts, including delivering an additional 97 specialist educational places between 2021 and 2023 through an investment of more than £5m", says Coun Sam Smith from Nottinghamshire County Council.

We are committed to reducing waiting times for EHCPs and have made significant changes to help us achieve this – including increasing the number of education psychologists and establishing a team of SEND pathway officers whose role is to improve communication with parent carers requesting plan assessments.

When I was appointed to this role late last year, I made a commitment to children and young people with SEND, and their families, to do everything possible to ensure that they were able to receive the support they required in a mainstream setting or, where necessary, in a specialist environment as close to their home as possible.

I am delighted to say that we are making significant progress towards that by delivering on several projects – and the latest new school announcement by the DfE reflects the work we are doing.

This is positive news that I’m sure will be welcomed by families of children with SEND across Nottinghamshire.