Proposals to open and expand Specialist Resource Bases for children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities

Overview

UPDATE

On 8 April 2020, in her role as Decision Maker, Sara Tough, the Executive Director of Children's Services, agreed that the following proposals should be implemented from 1 September 2020:

• Caister Infant & Nursery (Community) School and Caister Junior (Community) School, Kingston Avenue, Caister on Sea, Great Yarmouth NR6 6QA –  to establish a 16 place Social, Emotional and Mental Health Specialist Resource Base, located on the school site.
• Drake Primary (Community) School, Fairfields, Thetford IP24 1JW – to establish a 16 place Autistic Spectrum Disorder Specialist Resource Base, located on the school site.
• Hillcrest Primary (Community) School, Hillcrest, Downham Market, PE38 9ND – to establish a 16 place Learning and Cognition Needs Specialist Resource Base, located on the school site.
• Mundesley Infant (Community) School and Mundesley Junior (Community) School, Trunch Road, Mundesley NR11 8LE – to alter the 10 place Social, Emotional and Mental Health Specialist Resource Base at Mundesley Infant School to establish a 16 place Social, Emotional and Mental Health Resource Base, located on the school site.
• Redcastle Family (Community) School, St Martins Way, Thetford IP24 3PU – to establish a 16 place Autistic Spectrum Disorder Specialist Resource Base, located on the school site.

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This proposal is made by Norfolk County Council and Evolution Academy Trust, KWEST Academy Trust, Inspiration Academy Trust, Rightforsuccess Academy Trust and Wensum Academy Trust.  We are looking to open new Specialist Resource Bases (SRBs) for children with Special Education Needs and Disabilities and expand existing provision at Specialist Resource Bases in Norfolk, from 1 September 2020. 

Please refer to the consultation document at the bottom of this page for more details and the benefits of our proposals. Various consultation events are also taking place at the Schools in January 2020 which are also detailed in the additional attached document.

In 2018, Norfolk County Council announced it was to invest £120m in specialist school places and services, with up to four new special schools and 170 places in specialist bases at mainstream schools.  One of our objectives through the Norfolk Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision Transformation Programme is to create more than 500 extra school places for children with special education needs and disabilities in Norfolk.  Our proposal is part of this investment.  Specialist Resource Bases are a key part of Norfolk’s Local Offer for children with special educational needs and their families and has been identified in Norfolk’s SEND Strategy as a priority for development.

To meet this need and demand for specialist resource base places, Norfolk County Council has been working with governors and senior leaders from schools across Norfolk, including local authority maintained schools and Academy Trusts.  This is to establish the right provision in the right place to ensure improved access to SRB provision in Norfolk, for children, young people and their families. 

Norfolk County Council is looking to establish new SRBs or expand existing SRBs in the following Local Authority maintained schools and Academy Trusts, from 1 September 2020, subject to availability of suitable accommodation and recruitment of staff

Breckland

New 16 place ASD SRB at Redcastle Family (Community) School, Thetford

New 20 place ASD SRB at Thetford Academy, Inspiration Trust

Change the existing ‘POD’ provision to a 16 place ASD SRB at Drake Primary (Community) School, Thetford

Norwich

New 16 place SEMH SRB at Arden Grove Infant School, Wensum Trust

New 16 place SEMH SRB at Edith Cavell Academy & Nursery, Rightforsuccess Trust

New 16 place SEMH SRB at Wensum Junior Academy, Evolution Academy Trust

East Norfolk

New 16 place SEMH SRB at Caister Infant & Nursery (Community) School and Caister Junior (Community) School Great Yarmouth

North Norfolk

Expand the 10 place SEMH SRB at Mundesley Junior (Community) School by adding a further 6 places to the SRB

West Norfolk

New 16 place ASD SRB at Greyfriars Academy, King’s Lynn, KWEST Trust

New 16 place LCN SRB at Hillcrest Primary (Community) School, Downham Market

Why your views matter

We would like to know what you think about our specialist resource base proposals