Purpose

To update the
Education Sufficiency strategy covering school places for children
with Special Education Needs

Content

The Cabinet
considered a report of the Director of Children’s Services,
which sought to update on the Education Sufficiency Strategy and to
seek the formal adoption of the document as a good and timely
strategy for sufficiency of educational placements across both the
mainstream and Special Educational Needs sector of the
school’s estate. The previous version had been approved by
Cabinet in June 2023.
 
The School Place
Planning Manager Sufficiency and the Assistant Director Schools and
Inclusion were in attendance to present the information and to
address the questions and the commments of the Cabinet
Members.
 
Resolved that the Education
Sufficiency Strategy, as an update to the strategy approved by
Cabinet in June 2023 for education placements across the Special
Educational Needs sector, be agreed.
 
Reason for
decision:
Rochdale Council
has a statutory duty under section 14 of the Education Act 1996, to
ensure there is a sufficiency of school places available to meet
the needs of all children and young people living within our
authority. This includes having regard to the need to secure
provision for children with special educational needs and
disabilities (SEND). In addition, section 315 of the Education Act
1996 requires that arrangements for children with SEND be kept
under review.
 
This strategy
covers school place planning for children with SEND, special school
capacity, SEN resourced provisions and SEN units in mainstream
school. It details how Rochdale is connected to the wider national
and Greater Manchester, GM, school place sufficiency
strategies.
 
Alternatives
considered and rejected:
Proposals were put
forward in line with pupil place planning priorities and
commitments approved in previous Cabinet reports. A suite of plans
with alternatives was given in the strategy in order to foresee
decisions outside of council control. Failure to have an adopted
strategy for educational placements could negatively impact
oversight and apparent oversight as considered in the Ofsted
framework.