Agenda item

Cabinet Portfolio: - Children's Services and Neighbourhood Working

Strategic Directorate: - Children and Young People’s Services

Consideration was given to a report that was submitted for pre-decision scrutiny ahead of the Cabinet meeting scheduled for 23 November 2020 in respect of the SEND Sufficiency Development Phase 3. The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Neighbourhood Working, the Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services and the Joint Assistant Director - Commissioning, Performance and Inclusion attended the meeting to present the report.

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Neighbourhood Working in introducing the report noted the report and recommendations would address two key issues that were faced in Rotherham in relation to sufficiency of education for children with special education needs and disabilities that were:

·       The lack of designated social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) educational provision in the Borough.

·       The Newman Special School building being in need of extensive work in order to bring it to the required standard to effectively deliver education for children and young people with disabilities. 

The Joint Assistant Director - Commissioning, Performance and Inclusion noted that the current proposals were the part of the Council’s ongoing SEND Sufficiency Development Strategy, and advised that Phase 3 and subsequent phases would continue to deliver on the Council’s commitment to improve outcomes for children and young people across the Borough while also ensuring the provision of services were financially sustainable into the future.

The Joint Assistant Director noted the current challenges of increased demand for services, the lack of suitable specialist educational provision in the Borough and the physical limitations of current facilities created for the effective provision of education for children with special education needs and disabilities. The Assistant Director advised that following an in-depth analysis of the current situation, four different options had been identified as potential ways forward to address the need to develop and improve specialist educational provision in the Borough. The Joint Assistant Director summarised the strategic appraisal of the different options that had been considered. The full strategic options appraisal was included in the officer’s report. Members were assured that the appraisal process had been robust and thorough in its execution.

The Joint Assistant Director advised that following the options appraisal it was proposed that the option that would best support children and young people with special education needs and disabilities to achieve improved outcomes  was through the development of new, modern, and well-designed provision on the former Dinnington College site, noting that the site had sufficient space and resources to meet the needs of the children who would attend there.  The Joint Assistant Director advised that the former college buildings would provide the opportunity to open a new special school that was dedicated to educating children and young people with social, emotional and mental health needs, and would also provide safe, modern and well-planned new buildings for children and young people who attended Newman Special School to receive their education in. It was also proposed that the upper school at the Newman School would also move to the Dinnington site enabling the creation of the space required for the essential capital works on the main school site to take place.

The Joint Assistant Director advised that while the proposals would not increase the overall number of places that were available in the Borough, they would ensure that places that were available matched more closely the current needs of children and young people with special education needs and disabilities in Rotherham. The Joint Assistant Director noted that an extensive consultation and engagement process would take place with all stakeholders on the proposals.

The Joint Assistant Director advised that the new school that would be created at the Dinnington site would be developed under the Department for Education free school presumption process and assured members that the Council had recent of experience of this process with the opening of Waverley Junior Academy. The Joint Assistant Director noted that Newman School would remain as a local authority maintained school.

The Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services noted the great opportunity that the proposals presented to reform specialist educational provision in the Borough in order to effectively support the needs of for children with social, emotional and mental health needs.

Members welcomed the proposals and how they would further progress the Council’s work to support children and young people with special education needs and disabilities to achieve improved outcomes. Members also noted their support for the proposals that would ensure that the former college building at Dinnington continued to be used for the provision of education and also enable children and young people to access the education they needed in the Borough.

Members noted the increased numbers of children in mainstream schools with additional needs and asked how they would be supported with their needs in a mainstream school setting. The Joint Assistant Director advised that alternative provision, that had been co-produced with head teachers across the Borough would provide alternative support pathways for children and young people with additional educational needs in mainstream schools. The Joint Assistant added that the development of better aligned specialist educational provision enabled by the SEND Sufficiency Strategy would also enable the development of increased levels of support in mainstream schools for children and young people with additional needs.

Members asked for assurances that officers were confident that the provision that was being proposed would be sufficient to not only meet current needs, but  would also meet the level of need for specialist provision in the Borough into the future. The Joint Assistant Director advised that the thorough data analysis that had taken place in the development of the proposals meant that officers were as confident as they could be that the proposals would meet future needs. The Joint Assistant Director also noted that the increased development of support regarding additional needs would enable more for children and young people with these needs to receive the support that they needed in a mainstream school. Members welcomed the ambition to keep as many children and young people with additional needs as possible in mainstream education.

Members asked for further information on the proposed consultation and engagement activities.  The Joint Assistant Director provided details of the proposed activities, noting the involvement of the Parent and Carer Forum and headteachers.

At this point it was moved, seconded and resolved:

“That by virtue of paragraph 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 the public and press be excluded from the meeting due to the likely disclosure of information relating to financial or business affairs.”

Members asked for further information on how the valuation of the Dinnington College site that was included in an exempt appendix to the report had been obtained, given the limited number of similar sites that valuers could use for comparison. The Deputy Leader advised that given the rigorous processes that had been followed regarding the valuation that he was confident that the valuation that had been provided for the site was accurate. The Deputy Leader noted that as the building had, until earlier in the year been in full us as a college and was in a well-maintained condition, that there should not be any unexpected problems encountered at later point regarding the condition of the site.

As there were no further questions regarding the exempt appendix to the report, the public and press were readmitted to the meeting.

The Chair thanked the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and Neighbourhood Working, the Strategic Director for Children and Young People’s Services and the Joint Assistant Director - Commissioning, Performance for attending the meeting and answering members’ questions.

Resolved: -

1.    That Cabinet be advised that the recommendations be supported.

2.    That the Improving Lives Select Commission continues to monitor the implementation of the SEND Sufficiency Strategy.