High Needs Provision Capital Allocation (HNPCA) 2022-24 consultation

Overview

Introduction

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced local authority funding to support the provision of new places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and those requiring alternative provision. This is collectively referred to as high needs provision.

Funding will be provided for 2022-24 through the High Needs Provision Capital Allocation (HNPCA). Trafford Council’s allocation of this funding is:

2022/23 - £4,728,995
2023/24 - £3,680,072

Consultation

We have to use the funding in a way that best meets our strategic priorities so that we have enough school places that can meet the needs of children and young people with SEND in our area. 

We have worked with key partners to develop a series of proposals and are now interested in feedback on our plans from parents, carers and young people as well as schools and settings. You can ask any questions and tell us what you think about the proposals by giving your ideas and comments in one of the following ways:

• Consultation hub
• Email fis@trafford.gov.uk
• Write to Family Information Service, Trafford Council, Waterside, Sale, M33 7ZF

The consultation is open from 30 September 2022 until 14 October 2022. After the period of consultation we will publish all the feedback and a plan showing how we intend to invest our allocated funding.

Our Trafford guide to coproduction describes how we can work together to make things happen. It includes a ladder of coproduction which recognises various steps of participation. Coproduction is not always achievable but other forms of positive participation should be recognised. We have categorised this activity as being at the third stage on the ladder of coproduction which is Consultation, where families are asked what they think about particular developments or issues.

Trafford strategic priorities and proposals 2022/24

Strategic priorities

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.

In order to develop capacity, our strategic priorities are to increase capacity within local specialist provision, including small specialist classes within mainstream schools, to meet the increasing demands for places. 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. This fits with our commitment to the Trafford Inclusion Charter and the aims of SEND Green Paper following the recent SEND Review.

Our understanding of these local priorities is informed by our SEND Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, the SEND Strategic Plan and the knowledge that all places in special schools and small specialist classes are full in September 2022.

Small specialist classes

Small specialist classes (SSC) have been developed to make sure the majority of pupils with complex special educational needs can have their additional needs met within a mainstream school. These classes are usually for around 10 pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan. Staff are experienced and trained in the particular specialism of each class as well as general special and additional needs. Pupils from the SSC often spend time in the bigger classes in the school when they show themselves able to cope with the social and educational demands of the mainstream class in particular areas of the curriculum, and they are fully integrated into general school life. A review in 2018 highlighted how vital these classes are to supporting children with additional needs in Trafford.

We are aware that all SSCs at mainstream primary schools in our area are currently at full capacity, so we have identified the following requirements for additional SSCs and have invited schools to submit an expression of interest:

In 2021, we completed a review of the secondary small specialist class provision based at Lostock High School. This provision has been extremely successful in meeting the needs of students with autism spectrum / social communication needs and has expanded from initially having 10 students placed on site in 2018 to 22 by September 2021. This small specialist class offers young people with autism spectrum / social communication needs the flexibility of accessing a mainstream curriculum whilst providing them with additional support to overcome the environmental challenges a secondary school context can present.

The review detailed high quality teaching and learning experiences and was pleased to find that children are well supported and outcomes are good.

We do however recognise this provision can only meet the needs of a small number of children, it is situated in the north of the borough and is now full. We have therefore already commissioned an additional secondary small specialist class set to open at Wellington School in the south of the borough in 2022.

1. Specific proposals

We have identified a number of proposed schemes linked to our priorities. Some are at specific schools and some are inviting expressions of interest from Trafford schools:

For information on how Trafford Council's allocation of this funding was used in previous years, please see the attachment called 'High Needs Provision Capital Allocation consultation Annex 1'.

What happens next

After the period of consultation we will publish all the feedback and a plan showing how we intend to invest our allocated funding.