Heathfield Special School, a primary school for children with moderate to severe learning difficulties (SLD), has completed building works to accommodate 10 extra pupils from this term, with plans to add up to 10 more by September 2025, bringing its total capacity to 150 children.
Pennington Church of England Junior School, a mainstream school, will offer three additional specialist places for children with Social, Emotional & Mental Health (SEMH) needs.
Haven Nursery School will increase its part-time SEND places by eight, bringing the total to 36, to meet the growing demand for pre-school age children in the area.
Councillor Steve Forster, Hampshire County Council’s Cabinet for Education, said: “With national projections showing that by the end of this decade, the number of children with Education, Health and Care Plans in Hampshire may increase by more than 11,000 to around 28,000, every new specialist school place we can create counts. We are therefore taking action now to ensure we can support as many children as possible with specialist places at schools local to them which is both good for children, as well as for their parents and carers. This in turn reduces dependence on expensive and often distant independent specialist school placements, as well as the associated transport costs.”
The cost difference between resourcing a SEN place in a local authority mainstream or special school and a place in the independent sector is significant. The total annual cost of the new places announced today will be £482,464, compared to an estimated £1.96 million for the same number of day places in independent special schools.
As demand for SEND places increases, the County Council is not only focusing on investing in high-quality specialist provision to meet the needs of children and young people within their local schools, but supporting schools to integrate pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) conditions such as dyslexia, dyscalculia, and dyspraxia into mainstream lessons through effective teaching techniques and support.
Crestwood Community School in Eastleigh is one such example.
Councillor Forster commented: “Crestwood, along with other schools, does a fantastic job integrating pupils with specific conditions into mainstream lessons. As the number of pupils requiring a resourced specialist place at Crestwood has been reducing over time, the school leadership has agreed to reduce resourced places from 22 to 15 this academic year, which in turn is helping to save ongoing costs of £42,000 annually.”