Councillors set to back strategy for children with special needs
SENIOR COUNCILLORS in Barnsley will be asked to approve a proposed strategy for developing a clearer, more sustainable way of providing enough placements for some of the town’s most vulnerable pupils.
At its meeting held in November last year, Cabinet members approved the borough’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Strategy.
Its purpose was to strengthen jointly commissioned, integrated services across education, health and social care for the benefit of children and young people up to the age of 25 with SEND, together with their families and carers.
One of the objectives of this strategy was to close any gaps in provision and to challenge schools and academies in Barnsley to be fully inclusive in meeting the needs of this group of children and young people.
Part of this ongoing work includes the draft SEND School Placement Sufficiency Strategy, which will be presented at the next Cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
It sets out the challenges facing the council in its statutory duty of ensuring the sufficient number of placements, together with the outcomes of a recent review of provision.
The draft strategy discusses how Barnsley will address pressures within the system, particularly by placing a renewed focus on developing capacity locally to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. Reviews have highlighted some areas where significant improvements can be made locally, particularly to prevent pupils having to travel out of the borough.
Coun Tim Cheetham, cabinet spokesperson for people, said: “Our ambition is that wherever possible children and young people should have their needs met in their chosen mainstream setting, educated alongside their peers within their community.
“Investing towards improving local mainstream capacity and thereby enhancing provision closer to a child’s home will be beneficial in the long-term.”