Children with special educational needs in Trafford are set to get more support in smaller, specialist classes across the borough.
Government funding of £1.677m has been received by the council and a report was approved last night deciding how that money could be spent.
Currently there are nine specialist classes across Trafford for primary school children with special educational needs, which are all currently running at full capacity – but they’re not in nine separate schools; some schools have more than one specialist class.
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There is also one specialist class serving Trafford’s secondary school pupils in the north of the borough, at Lostock College, that is also now full.
The plan is to improve the existing facilities in the borough and increase the number of specialist classes available in Trafford – subject to budget approval.
Some schools have already applied for funding in order to facilitate this, but so far no schools in the south of the borough have applied for this funding – which members of the council queried at last night’s executive meeting.
It is understood this could be due to a number of factors, including a lack of space or suitable facilities at the schools in question.
The report said: “In Trafford, children with additional needs benefit from excellent mainstream and special school provision. We are aware however that we have very limited capacity to meet increasing demand for places in both primary and secondary settings in the future.
“We are committed to supporting our schools and settings within the borough
to meet this increasing demand as we believe that local provision offers the best outcomes for the children and young people of Trafford.”
As part of the plans, the following schools will receive funding for the following schemes:
- Firs Primary School – additional specialist classroom (planned opening September 2022), £400,000
- Longford Park School – additional classroom, £350,000
- Pictor Academy – additional classroom, £15,000
- Delamere School – classroom reconfiguration, £40,000
- Wellington School – additional specialist classroom, £350,000
The council has asked for expressions of interest from other schools in the borough for other schemes too, which they’ve allocated a further £450,000 to support.
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