Objective
This consultation is now closed
The vision in Manchester’s Children and Young People’s Plan is that every child and young person aged 0-25 will achieve their full potential and are:
- Safe
- Happy
- Healthy
- Successful
Manchester aims for children and young people with SEND to attend their local preschool setting and to be educated in their local mainstream school whenever possible. Where specialist provision is required, this should be within schools based in the city. The vast majority of pupils’ SEN are met within the following:
- Fully inclusive mainstream provision
- Mainstream with support
- Resourced mainstream provision
- Special school provision.
Manchester’s special school provision is located in purpose-built schools that have been awarded ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted. They all have an outreach offer that can be accessed by mainstream schools and settings to ensure that every school can identify and meet the needs of children with SEND who choose to attend a local school or setting and close the gap in outcomes when compared to young people without SEND.
The objective of this proposal is for the Local Authority to increase the specialist provision at Southern Cross School with the use of additional accommodation and provide capacity to meet the needs of the growing SEND pupil population, allowing pupils to access provision locally.
The effect on other educational institutions within the area.
The proposal will build on the good standards for teaching and learning already in place at Southern Cross School and provide additional local places for local children with special educational needs without having any negative impact on other schools, academies and educational institutions in the area.
Project costs and indication of how these will be met, including how long-term value for money will be achieved.
The project capital costs will be met from the local authorities Basic Need capital funding stream.
All specialist places at Southern Cross School will continue to be funded from the High Needs Block part of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).The revenue funding required for the additional places is included in the DSG allocation and the additional commissioned places have been agreed by Schools Forum.
The proposal to increase capacity at Southern Cross School with the use of the new sixth form centre will ensure the continued delivery of high quality and cost-effective provision for the children and young people of Manchester and provide local specialist provision.
Implementation and any proposed stages for implementation.
The proposed implementation date is 1 September 2021. Admission arrangements will be managed by the special educational needs statutory assessment process and will follow those in place for Southern Cross School.