£1.5m to be spent on more special educational needs places at two Black Country schools
As much as £1.5m will be spent creating 25 new SEND places at two schools in Sandwell.
Sandwell Council said it plans use the government money to improve facilities for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) at Ocker Hill Academy in Tipton and Wood Green Academy in Wednesbury.
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The council was given £1.6m by the Department for Education (DfE) as part of government plans to expand and improve SEND provision.
Both schools have also been included in the DfE’s school rebuilding programme and both sites are expected to be “comprehensively redeveloped.”
Sandwell Council’s cabinet meets on March 11 to discuss the SEND proposals.
A total of £400,000 will be spent on Ocker Hill Academy in Gospel Oak Road to provide five extra spaces for children and £1.11m will be spent at Wood Green Academy to create a further 20 spaces.
The 240-place Ocker Hill Academy currently supports 10 pupils with social, emotional and mental health needs.
Wood Green Academy, the 1,300-pupil secondary school in Wood Green Road, Wednesbury, does not have a designated SEND resource base but “provides wider support to its pupils who require additional support to meet their needs.”
SEND children at Ocker Hill Academy are currently accommodate in a former site manager’s house.
The council said the house was not included within the scope of the Department for Education’s replacement work but provision could remain and increased at the school using the extra funding.
Both Ocker Hill Academy and Wood Green Academy have been included within the DfE’s national School Rebuild Programme which will see both school sites “comprehensively redeveloped.”
The work will be funded and managed by the Department for Education.
Sandwell Council said Wood Green Academy was the only school in the borough to have reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) in one of its teaching blocks.
The government said it would be replacing a “large proportion” of the Wednesbury secondary school.
