This week the Government announced a multi-million pound investment in state-of-the-art facilities for children with special educational needs.
Children only get one chance at an education and they deserve the best, whatever challenges they may face. All parents want to send their child to a good local school that meets their individual needs. 1.9 million more children are attending good or outstanding schools and we have created over 800,000 new school places since 2010. But there is more to do.
The investing of £50 million is to create additional school places and state-of-the-art facilities for children with special educational needs and disabilities. This will help councils to meet additional demand and provide families with more choice. Over half the councils in England will receive more than £225,000 to increase places or improve schools for children with SEND, and every council will receive at least £115,000. Local authorities will need to work with parents and carers to determine how this money is most effectively spent.
Overall this brings the total investment in new school places for children with additional needs to £265 million, following the announcement of a £215 million fund last year. The latest funding boost could help create around 740 more special school places and provide new, specialist facilities to support children with complex needs, such as sensory rooms and playgrounds with specialist equipment.
Investing £23 billion to 2021 to ensure every child – regardless of their needs, background or circumstances – has access to a good school place. This has already created over 800,000 school places, and 91 per cent of the places created last year were in good or outstanding schools.
Overall investment in educational provision for children with SEND was £6 billion this year, the highest on record with 94 per cent of special schools are rated good or outstanding, compared with 82 per cent in 2010.
