Tens of thousands of Send places to be created in mainstream schools with £3bn of funding
More than £3bn is to be used to create tens of thousands of specialist places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) in mainstream schools, Bridget Phillipson has announced.
The Education Secretary said the funding would go towards equipping schools with the facilities to support Send youngsters and end the “postcode lottery”.
The Government says this will mean children with specialist needs will not have to travel miles and miles from their home for their education.
This is currently costing councils huge amounts of money, as in North Yorkshire the council spends more than £1.2m-a-year on one child’s home-to-school transport.
On top of the tens of thousands of places created from the £3bn investment, the Government said it would deliver another 10,000 places either in specialist free schools or by adding these on to existing educational establishments.
Ms Phillipson said: “A child’s background should not determine where they end up.
“Education is the route to opportunity, and opportunity should be for every child, regardless of their individual needs and circumstances.
“For too many families, the reality has been very different, but this government will fix the broken education system for children and young people with Send by making sure that their local school is also the right school.
“Ahead of our reforms next year, we’re laying the foundations of a new system that shifts children with Send from forgotten to included and earns the confidence of parents.”
The Education Secretary explained that this announcement lays the groundwork for wider reform of the Send system, which is to be announced in 2026.
However, this was already getting support from educators in the region.
Anna Heaton, executive principal at Delta Academies Trust, which runs 63 institutions primarily across Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “Inclusion means doing all we can to break down barriers to learning, enabling all our learners to participate and achieve together.
“Our resourced provision units provide a bridge back to learning for our most vulnerable learners and help us ensure pupils access the support they need to fulfil their potential.
“This results in greatly improved attendance and engagement in learning, but the benefits for our pupils and their families go far beyond this in terms of improving mental health and wellbeing.”