What we are proposing
We are very excited to annouce a proposed initiative to enhance support for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) within Lincolnshire.
Lincolnshire County Council (LCC), in partnership with the following schools (and a number of academies who are carrying out their own consultations), is today commencing a consultation on the proposed development of a SEND Hub at:
- The Meadows Primary School, Lincoln
- St George’s Church of England Primary School, Gainsborough
- Caistor Church of England and Methodist Primary School, Caistor
- Gonerby Hill Foot Church of England Primary School, Grantham
- The Church Lane Primary School, Sleaford
Proposals
Since 2019, we have been implementing the “building communities of specialist provision strategy”, which has provided major improvements to educational provision for children and young people with special additional needs and disabilities.
This focused on enhancing special school provision.
However, we also believe that, for the majority of children and young people with SEND, mainstream schools can offer a high-quality education in an inclusive and encouraging environment, where pupils can achieve the best outcomes possible, with access to a rich and wide curriculum.
For the majority of children and young people with SEND, being educated in a mainstream setting with enhanced support is the right type of education and the council, in collaboration with a number of schools and academies, is seeking to develop this opportunity.
We are proposing to develop a new type of provision for Lincolnshire called mainstream SEND Hubs. The SEND Hubs aim to provide children and young people with Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plans access to quality teaching in their local school, fostering skills, independence, resilience, and readiness for their next stage of educational journey and adulthood, while promoting a sense of belonging in their community.
The Hubs would be aimed at supporting children and young people with additional needs to be educated and have their needs met in a mainstream school with enhanced facilities by knowledgeable and skilled staff. The mainstream SEND hub will be part of the mainstream school, providing an enhanced educational offer for pupils with SEND in the mainstream setting.
The SEND Hubs will be for pupils with EHC plans and provide a level of provision between mainstream and special education.
Access to the SEND Hub will be through the formalised EHC needs assessment or annual review route.
The local authority would agree and name a host mainstream school through the consultation process, with the designation of their mainstream SEND Hub named in the pupils’ EHC plan, if deemed the most appropriate type of setting. All pupils will be on the mainstream school roll and expected to be included regularly in events at the mainstream school, in accordance with individual need.
All Lincolnshire schools have been approached with the offer of setting up a SEND Hub and following a series of discussions, 11 primary schools and three secondary schools have been identified as suitable for the first wave of implementation.
It is a long term ambition to expand this offer further.
Should this initiative be agreed, we are intending to complete the capital works required to establish SEND Hubs in host schools during the following 12 months. Work would be carefully phased to minimise any disruption to schools and pupils, with main works taking place during school holidays. More information will be published once a final decision is made and more detail is known.
These proposals have the potential to make a significant, positive change to future provision for pupils with special educational and disability needs across Lincolnshire. Please take time to let us know what you think.
