Cumberland Council (the local authority) has a statutory duty under the The Education Act 1996 Section 14(1) to ensure that there are a sufficient number of school places for all children and young people who are resident within Cumberland. The Authority has specific duties to ensure that there is sufficient specialist provision available for children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), where their EHCPs determine that their needs should be met in specialist provision.
Cumberland has experienced a significant increase in the number of children and young people with EHCP's requiring specialist provision, to ensure they are able to have their complex needs fully met and receive the specialist support that is required for them to thrive. It is projected that demand for specialist places will continue to grow across all sectors.
This report sets out the analysis process that we undertake to enable the local authority to plan and ensure the sufficiency of specialist places across Cumberland and provides an overview of the following information:
- the current specialist provision available
- the number of children and young people with an EHCP
- the most prevalent primary needs of the children and young people with an EHCP
- the projected growth of children and young people with an EHCP based on local and national data
- whether or not there are sufficient specialist places for particular primary needs within each area, to meet current and projected demands
- the type of provision that is projected to be required such as resourced provisions or special schools
This report highlights the scale of growth and the number of specialist places required to meet projected increase in demand. In order to assess and ensure that there are sufficient specialist places for statutory school aged children, this report predominantly looks at school aged children and young people with an EHCP.
The eight Community Panel Areas have been used to plan and forecast SEND provision as they have established geographical boundaries. Whilst some of the Community Panel Areas are significantly smaller in area, they do have similar populations.
SEN support
Children and young people on SEN Support require additional or different help from that provided as part of the school's usual curriculum. The class teacher and SEN Coordinator (SENCO) may receive advice or support from outside specialists. These children and young people do not have an EHCP.
Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP)
A pupil has an EHCP when a formal assessment has been carried out. The EHCP is a formal document that sets out the child's needs and the additional help that they should receive.
Types of specialist provision
Cumberland offers a range of educational provision to meet the needs of children and young people with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND). This includes provision in both Local Authority Maintained Schools and Academies including:
- mainstream schools
- special schools
- resourced provisions
Mainstream schools
Local authority maintained (including foundation schools). This includes nursery schools, primary and secondary schools which are maintained by a local authority.
Academies are state-funded independent schools that are accountable to thee Secretary of State for the management of the school through a legally binding Funding Agreement.
Free schools are local schools funded by the Government, but have greater freedoms than local authority run schools, and have freedom over things like the length of the school day, the curriculum and how they spend their money.
An independent school is one which is neither maintained by a local authority nor is in receipt of grants from the Department for Education and funding is primarily from fees charged to local authorities and parents for pupils placed there.
Alternative Provision (AP) or Pupil Referral Unit (PRU): A pupil referral unit (PRU) is set up under the Education Act 1993 to make provision for pupils who are out of schools for reasons such as exclusion or illness.
Special schools
A special school is specifically organised to provide special educational provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. These can be Local Authority (LA) maintained, academies or non-maintained special schools. In Cumberland there are both local authority special schools and academy special schools.
Resourced provisions
Resourced Provisions (RPs) are within a mainstream school or academy, designed to provide specialist and targeted support for children and young people with an Educational, Health and Care Plan. Children accessing a RP will be on the roll of the mainstream school and will be fully supported by the specialist staff and the staff of the mainstream school working in partnership. The children and young people have access to both mainstream provision and the Resourced Provision dependent on individual needs and will therefore be eligible to access all activities and opportunities available to all school pupils.
The RPs have dedicated space within the school which is for the sole use of the children and young people accessing the provision. It is important to understand that they are not separate to the school, nor are they special schools or units. Their purpose is to offer specialist support to enable the children and young people to access a mainstream education.
All of our resourced provisions are led by the individual schools and are therefore staffed and managed by the school or academy.