Seeking proposals to establish a Special Free School
March 2019
Section One: Overview
1. Summary
The Department for Education (DfE) is working collaboratively with selected Local Authorities to establish new schools that fit within the local authorities’ strategies for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and those requiring alternative provision. This opportunity is intended to identify and meet untapped demand for special and alternative provision free schools as a supplement to local authority's existing resources. If a strong proposal is received by a trust that both the Local Authority and the Secretary of State wish to take forward, Department for Education will provide capital funding and start-up grants subject to value for money assessments.
This document sets out the key information regarding the school that we will be establishing alongside Department for Education. Trusts should use the information within this document, alongside the engagement events, to determine whether they would like to apply to open the school, and to base their application on.
2. Key dates
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| 24 July 2018 | Special and Alternative Provision free schools wave is launched – the guidance and criteria for local authorities seeking to establish new special or alternative provision free schools is published |
| 11 March 2019 | Announcement of successful Local Authority bids. |
| March – September 2019 | Potential proposer group application stage/engagement. |
| Midday 30 September 2019 | Potential proposer group application window closes. |
| September – December 2019 | Assessment of potential proposer group applications. |
| Winter 2019 | Secretary of State’s decision on successful proposer groups. |
| Early 2020 | Announcement of successful proposer groups |
3. Contact details and further information
If you would like any further information or would like to discuss your application, please contact:
Name: Jane Harvey
Job title: Strategic Planning and Development Officer
Email: special.freeschool@northyorks.gov.uk
Tel: 01609 532306
Name: Jane Le Sage
Job title: Assistant Director Inclusion
Email: jane.lesage@northyorks.gov.uk
Tel: 01609 532174
If you would like any further information or would like to discuss the site, please contact:
Name: Roger Fairholm
Job title: Asset Manager
Email: roger.fairholm@northyorks.gov.uk
Tel: 01609 535698
Please find below the contact details of the Regional Schools Commissioner:
RSC: Janet Renou
RSC’s office: Regional Schools Commissioner North
Email: rsc.north@education.gov.uk
4. Context and Planning
Please include here details of why the local authority is running this competition and requires this school. Should this be a joint bid, please explain how the local authorities will work together and how other local authorities are involved in commissioning places.
We have worked closely with parents/carers, schools, other education providers and professionals and children and young people to conduct a detailed review of special educational needs and disabilities education provision and develop a comprehensive Strategic Plan for SEND education provision.
We are committed to the overarching principles of the Strategic Plan which are:
- an inclusive culture and ethos
- joint commitment and accountability to children and young people
- right support, right time, right place
We want all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to:
- have the best educational opportunities so they achieve the best outcomes
- be able to attend a school or provision as close to their home as possible
- make progress with learning, have good social and emotional health and to be prepared for a fulfilling adult life
The lack of special school provision in the Selby area has been identified as a significant gap and one which needs to be addressed through the Strategic Plan. Such a school is a key element in developing more local provision for children and young people and families in the Selby area.
The proposal to submit a bid for a special free school was strongly supported during the formal consultation on the Strategic Plan, with 94% of respondents either agreeing or strongly agreeing to the proposal. There are nine maintained special schools and one special academy in North Yorkshire. All but one are judged good or outstanding by OFSTED.
As noted above there is no special school in the Selby area. Our Strategic Plan sets out how we will develop the continuum of education provision for children and young people with SEND across universal, targeted and mainstream provision. The special free school would be an important part of this continuum as follows:
- as a special school in its own right, for children and young people with Education and Health Care Plan requiring specialist provision
- as a partner with other special schools across the Local Authority, working to develop and deliver the offer from special schools across the continuum, for example mutual support arrangements to benefit different types of provision, the development of a continuous professional development offer and developing and enhancing the preparing for adulthood offer
- as a key partner in the Selby local area arrangements for accountability and decision making
We envisage the school working very closely with other services and groups in the area such as:
- local authority local multi-disciplinary special educational needs and disabilities teams
- early help services
- social care services
- health services
- local voluntary groups
- local parent/carers groups and the North Yorkshire parent/carer forum
- local groups for young people (both with and without special educational needs and disabilities) linking with the North Yorkshire Youth Voice Executive
We would expect the school to work with these services and groups, which would including in genuine partnership solution focused approaches to meet the needs of children and young people and their families. We would also expect the school to be able to support other services and groups through reasonable use of school facilities, for example health clinics being held on site, opportunities for space to be used for multi-disciplinary working and opportunities for voluntary groups to hire spaces.
Children and young people from the Selby area needing a special school have to travel out of Selby to another part of North Yorkshire, or out of the county, often to more costly placements. The impact of this on children and young people is that they:
- experience long travel distances
- are being educated away from their families and community
The impact on the high needs budget is that we are paying for higher cost places than if the children and young people could be educated in North Yorkshire. Given a current predicted overspend on the High Needs Budget of around 12.3%, having a special school in Selby would reduce the costs to this budget.
We estimate that being able to educate pupils in Selby would:
- result in a long-term saving to the High Needs Budget which could be in the region of £250,000 to £500,000 per annum
- in the longer term, result in savings of £300,000 to £500,000 per annum in the local authority transport budget
We have undertaken work on forecasting of needs and demand for places over the next 5-10 years. The forecasting has been used to inform the Strategic Plan and the bid for the special free school. Current forecasting indicates that by 2023 we are likely to need an additional 211 special school places across the county.
Given:
- the gap in specialist provision in the Selby area
- the impact on children and young people
- the impact on the High Needs Budget and transport budget
- the forecast need for places in future
North Yorkshire requires a special free school in the Selby area and is therefore running this competition.
Whilst we made a solo bid for the free school, some other Local Authorities have indicated that they may commission places on a need basis at the school. With commissioning and demand for places in mind, the proposed location and site in Selby has been strategically identified to service our needs and the needs of neighbouring Local Authorities.
Section Two: The school
The tables below list key details of the school proposed. Your application must be for a school that has these key characteristics. Please note you only need to complete the relevant table depending on the type of school.
| Type of school | Special School |
|---|---|
| Area of special educational needs provided for (please detail designation alongside additional information known about the cohort’s needs and abilities) |
Specialist provision for children and young people with complex special educational needs in the areas of: Communication and interaction needs (including Autism and speech, language and communication needs); and / or Cognition and learning needs (MLD/SLD) Some children and young people may have related social, emotional and mental health needs but this will not be their primary need. |
| Which local authorities and committed to commissioning places? |
North Yorkshire The following Local Authorities may commission places as required:
|
| How many places have been commissioned and by which local authority? |
We are the commissioning body for the school, and will work in partnership with other Local Authorities. Places have been commissioned as follows: Year 1: 40 Year 2: 75 Year 3: 100 |
| Per-pupil revenue funding the local authority would expect to pay (if a range of rates, please explain and detail the rates per pupil, including estimates for how many of the cohort will be in each band) |
£10,000 per place (base funding) plus £4,780 to £12,880 per pupil (top up funding) depending on individual assessment of need. See the table below for estimates for pupils and bands. |
| Age range | 3-19 |
| Gender (Boys or Girls or Co-educational | Co-educational |
| Total number of proposed full time equivalent places (once school is at full capacity – this should include 16-19 places but not nursery) | 95 |
| Type of placements offered (e.g. full time, short term, part time) | Full time places |
| Number of nursery places, if applicable | 5 |
| Number of 16-19 places, if applicable | 25 (within the 100) |
| Any planned outreach, training and/or reintegration support (including details of funding that will be made available to support the school with this) |
We would expect the free school to work with the special schools in the county on the development and delivery of the offer from special schools across the continuum of provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, as in the North Yorkshire Strategic Plan for special educational needs and disabilities provision 0-25 (the Strategic Plan). This would include consideration of how mutual support arrangements can be developed to benefit universal, targeted and specialist provision 0-25 in North Yorkshire, and would also include a CPD offer. It is envisaged that a CPD offer would form part of the offer across the local authority and would be traded. We would expect the free school to be involved in local approaches to decision making around special educational needs and disabilities as set out in the Strategic Plan for SEND Education Provision. These approaches will introduce and strengthen accountability and decision making in the 5 locality areas in North Yorkshire:
There will be local area inclusion Steering Groups which will play key roles in this approach along with funding allocated to each Local Area to support development and respond to needs in the local area. We will expect the free school to be part of the Selby area arrangements and to contribute, as appropriate, to the overarching county arrangements. |
Table for estimates for pupils and bands:
| Band | Percentage at band | Totals |
|---|---|---|
| 9 (£12,880) | 8 | £103,040 |
| 8 (£9,140) | 15 | £137,100 |
| 7 (£7,570) | 48 | £363,360 |
| 6 (£4,780) | 29 | £138,620 |
| - | Top up | £742,120 |
| - | Base funding | £1,000,000 |
| - | Total budget | £1,742,120 |
The table below details the number of places that the local authority proposes for each year group at the point of opening until the school is full.
| Year of opening | +1 | +2 | +3 | +4 | +5 | +6 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nursery | 0 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
| Reception | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Key stage 1 (Y1-2) | 10 | 10 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Key stage 2 (Y3-6) | 10 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Key stage 3 (Y7-9) | 10 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Key stage 4 (Y10-11) | 10 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| 16-19: commissioner referred | 0 | 15 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| Totals | 40 | 75 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Section Three: Rationale and context for the school
This section describes the rationale and the context in which the new school will operate.
3A. Please include a brief description of the existing provision in your area, future expected growth in pupil numbers and how you expect places to be filled.
North Yorkshire is geographically the largest county in England with a widely distributed population. Our rurality and transport network makes finding local provision very difficult and this is compounded by the lack of specialist provision in Selby.
We need local provision to better meet needs but also reduce the pressure on our special educational needs transport budget. In July 2016, we had a successful joint local area SEND Inspection. More recently, we had a Children’s Services Inspection (July 2018). All areas were judged outstanding.
The are 9 maintained special schools within North Yorkshire and one special academy:
- Brompton Hall School – SEMH (boys), including residential provision
- Brooklands School – complex special educational needs
- Forest Moor School – SEMH
- Mowbray School – complex special educational needs
- Springhead School – severe/complex learning needs
- Springwater School – severe/complex learning needs
- The Dales School – severe/complex learning needs
- The Forest School – complex special educational needs
- Welburn Hall School – complex special educational needs (including residential)
- The Woodlands Academy – complex special educational needs
All but Forest Moor School are judged good or outstanding by OFSTED. North Yorkshire is proactive with Forest Moor in taking action to secure rapid improvement. There is no special school in the Selby area.
The Local Authority and special schools have a positive working partnership and the special free school would be an integral part of this. Prior to work on the Strategic Plan, a review of SEND education provision across North Yorkshire was carried out by the independent ISOS organisation.
The reviews carried out by ISOS preceded and underpinned work on the Strategic Plan.
The ISOS review in Selby concluded: “We found evidence of need that could support specialist provision in the Selby area” And also that “in the long term, it would be sensible to consider a medium sized special school for pupils with learning difficulties, autism and other complex needs.”
Work on refining our forecasting model and on developing the Strategic Plan has built on, and reinforced, the ISOS findings.
In terms of children and young people with Education and Health Care Plans:
- Over 40% have a primary need of communication and interaction (C&I)
- Over 27% have a primary need of cognition and learning (C&L)
- Over 18% have a primary need of social, emotional and mental health (SEMH)
- Just over 13% have a primary need of sensory / physical (SP)
Therefore 67% of children and young people with Education and Health Care Plans have needs in the area of communication and interaction or cognition and learning supporting the need for the type of school identified for the Selby area. We are seeing a rapid increase in the numbers of Education and Health Care Plans for communication and interaction needs and expect this to continue. Based on the special school offer across North Yorkshire, and on forecasting, the type of special school proposed is specialist provision for children and young people with complex special educational needs in the areas of:
- communication and interaction needs (including Autism and speech, language and communication needs); and/or
- cognition and learning needs (moderate learning difficulties /severe learning difficulties)
Some children and young people may have related social, emotional and mental health needs but this will not be their primary need. This type of school is close to that suggested by ISOS. It is anticipated that places will be full time, but we would expect the school to support dual placements as in the Strategic plan
Our forecasting indicates that by 2023 we are likely to need an additional 211 special school places for the county. Securing special school provision in the Selby area is a key part of this work, as it will meet the demands from that area as well as releasing some capacity in our other special schools to meet demand elsewhere.
The proposal to submit a bid for a Special Free School in the Selby area was strongly supported during the formal consultation on the Strategic Plan. As part of the consultation, 94% of survey respondents either agreed or strongly agreed to proposals for specialist provision in the area. This view was supported during consultation meetings.
In Year 1 we would envisage the school operating a high quality curriculum across key stages 1-4 with approximately 10 pupils in each key stage. During year 2 numbers would increase to 75. This would include the establishment of nursery and reception places and a post 16 offer. We anticipate reaching a full commission of 100 places by the start of year 3.
Referrals to the school will be made after statutory assessment following panel approval of the issuance of an Education and Health Care Plan and in line with the Code of Practice.
Consultations are centrally coordinated by the Local Authority with a designated officer for each school to ensure consultation is thorough and transitions can be planned in partnership with families, the Local Authority and the most suitable school.
3B. Please also include details as to how these proposed new arrangements are likely to lead to improvements in the standard, quality and/or range of educational provision for children with special educational needs, and the outcomes for pupils, across the local authority and how you expect trusts to support this.
We expect the establishment of a special school in the Selby area to complement and enhance the existing high quality offer from the maintained special schools and the special academy in North Yorkshire. As a member of the partnership of special schools it is expected that the school will contribute to the offer from this partnership across the continuum of provision – universal, targeted and specialist, in line with the Strategic Plan.
It is also expected to be a key part of the local accountability and decision making arrangements for the Selby area. The lack of specialist provision in the Selby area has been identified as a gap. This gap in provision currently has a detrimental impact on children and young people’s social and emotional well-being as well as impact on their families. In terms of outcomes for children and young people from the Selby area who need to attend special school, and for their families, the following positive impacts are expected through the establishment of a special school in the area:
- children and young people attending school in their local area, in their local community and with their friends, supporting improved social and emotional well-being
- reduced travel times and anxiety for children and young people improving readiness to learn at school and well-being at home - this would also reduce the time children and young people spend away from home and their local community
- more opportunities for parent/carers to develop meaningful relationships with school and attend meetings and appointments at school
- improved choice for parents/carer and young people in respect of provision for young people with Education and Health Care Plans
- greater opportunities to have health needs met in the local area
- opportunities to be part of community events and developments
- young people preparing for adulthood will benefit from strengthened partnerships with community groups and employers in their own area creating more opportunities for them locally
- young people have opportunities to develop independence in travel, learning and employment
In addition, based on data analysis in respect of similar good or outstanding special schools both locally and nationally we have high expectations for the school and would expect the following aspirational outcomes:
| Age | Pass rate information |
|---|---|
| Early Years Foundation Stage | 70% of pupils make good or better progress from their starting point |
| Key Stage 1 | At least 70% of pupils achieve in the phonics test At the end of Key Stage 1, 65% of pupils make expected progress in reading and mathematics from their starting points |
| Key Stage 2 | At the end of Key Stage 2, 65% of pupils make expected progress in reading, writing and mathematics (combined) |
| Key Stage 4 |
At the end of Key Stage 4, 50% of pupils are at the national average of 0 in progress 8 measures At the end of Key Stage 4, 50% of pupils achieve the national expectations in core subjects for attainment 8 |
We would also expect students in post 16 provision to make good progress in all courses preparing them for adulthood:
- higher education and/or employment opportunities (CEIAG)
- independent living
- participating in society
- being as healthy as possible in adult life
This will be achieved alongside academic qualifications tailored to the individual, access to literacy and numeracy and an appropriate curriculum including opportunities for accredited qualifications and supported internships. By having high quality specialist provision in the Selby area, and educating children and young people locally, we expect an improvement in education, social, emotional and health outcomes.
There is strong parent/carer and community support for a special school in the Selby area. It is expected that the school will work closely with parent/carers and community to develop strong partnerships, opportunities for community use of the school building and preparation for adulthood options.
Section Four: The proposed location and site
This section describes the provisional site.
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Full address and full postcode | Part of Millfield Farm, Hull Road, Osgodby, YO8 5HN |
| Size of site | 2.37 ha |
| Further details on site (for example, current use/your reasons for choosing it/further developments (e.g. housing) planned for area |
The site is located within the identified area of need. It is agricultural land and forms part of a farm that we currently lease out. The size and shape could be amended as the scheme develops because we own adjoining land. The site has good road links to the north, south, east and west. Many parts of the identified area of need are subject to medium or high flood risks. The site that we have identified to take forward as part of our proposal is not subject to similar risks. Formal approval has been given to the lease of the site to an academy trust as a free special school (subject to the outcome of this bidding process). The site would be made available on a 125 year lease, without a premium, on a peppercorn rent. The site is large enough to allow for the possible expansion of the school should demand increase, but without being impractical and costly to manage in the meantime. Providing a larger site initially also removes the need, time and cost to grant a further lease to the academy trust if a larger site is needed subsequently. |