Council to spend £1.5m on SEND places at school

According to the BBC, Wolverhampton City Council is set to invest £1.5 million in expanding the number of places available for children with special educational needs and disabilities, as the city grapples with a sharp and sustained rise in demand for specialist provision.

The funding will be directed at Ormiston NEW Academy in the Marsh Lane area of Fordhouses, where the council plans to create up to 20 additional SEND places by 2028. The school already added 20 such places at the start of last academic year, with the number set to grow to 30 by 2027 and reach 40 by September 2028.

The scale of the challenge facing the council is reflected in its own figures. The number of children in Wolverhampton holding an education, health and care plan — the formal document that sets out what support a child with complex needs is entitled to — has climbed from around 2,200 in 2020 to more than 3,300 by the end of this year. That represents a surge of roughly 50 percent in just five years.

The £1.5 million will fund an expansion of the school's existing SEND resource base alongside the replacement and construction of new facilities, including a food technology room, a drama studio and upgraded changing rooms.

Despite the investment, the council acknowledged that demand is outpacing the rate at which new places can be created. As a result, the authority has been placing a significant number of children in independent specialist provision, both within the city and beyond its boundaries — an arrangement the council described as costly in terms of both placement fees and transport.

The pressure is not confined to Wolverhampton alone. The council said it is receiving a growing number of consultation requests from neighbouring West Midlands authorities seeking places in the city's specialist schools, adding further strain to an already stretched system.