A former school building in East Cowes could be brought back into use as part of a plan to increase school places for children with special educational needs (SEN). The Isle of Wight Council has announced ambitious plans worth £200,00 which include enlarging St George’s School, a special school for 11 to 19-year-olds with complex learning difficulties, by creating a ‘satellite’ provision at the former Studio School in East Cowes. Another plan is to double the provision at Greenmount Primary School for autistic children, from 6 places to 12. Altogether, the authority’s new education access and inclusion director, Naomi Carter said the council is going to increase specialist provision across the Island, with 150 new places created in the next 2 years. St George’s currently has the capacity for 188 pupils at its base on Watergate Road, Newport, but the authority is proposing to increase its admission number to 208. It means 20 pupils with autism and social, emotional and mental health conditions would be taught in new facilities at the former Studio School in East Cowes. The Studio School opened in the former East Cowes Primary School building, on Grange Road, in 2014 but only operated for five years, closing in 2019 due to low pupil numbers. The building has been empty ever since. The schemes aim to reduce the amount the council is spending on placements and packages for those children and young people who are currently being educated outside a school setting. It is part of the council’s ‘Safety Valve’ agreement with the Department for Education which could clear nearly £12.7 million of education spending debt if the council meets financial targets. While it would cost an estimated £230,000 for the 2 projects, the council hopes in the long-term it would reduce the cost. Speaking at a meeting of the children’s education scrutiny committee meeting on Thursday evening, Ms Carter said it was also about bringing children back into the school system and removing inappropriately placed children from mainland schools. It would be a phased programme of increasing places, she said, as the council cannot ‘carry on’ with the amount it spends on educating the approximately 70 children outside a school setting. Ms Carter said:
“We need to act quickly. The biggest issue we are going to have is winning the hearts and minds of Island families and parents’ confidence in the system. “We need to have a different, more therapeutic offer which can meet children’s needs within a different school environment. “We haven’t got a magic pot of money and we have to be creative with the resources we have but we believe we can do it.”
Steff Gleeson, headteacher, said:
“This is a very exciting development opportunity for St George’s and for the young people on the Isle of Wight.”
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, Cabinet member for children’s services and education, said:
“The lack of sufficient provision in Island schools has resulted in the need for increased placements within the costlier independent non-maintained specialist sector. “The council is committed to further developing successful provision to meet the growth in need within the special education needs and disability (SEND) sector and help children to have their needs met in their local community. “This proposed additional SEND provision will manage some of the school place pressures generated by the increase in the number of EHCPs maintained by the local authority and allow placement of additional children for September 2024.”
If agreed, the changes could come into effect from 1st September. A 6-week consultation has started on Friday (8th March). Anyone wishing to comment has until 19th April. Comments can be sent via email to [email protected] or post to County Hall in Newport and the strategic education development team.
This elegant and structurally-sound building should never have been let fall into the hands of the Studio School concept in the first place.
A huge amount of work was done to modernise the building for use as the Studio School – but who now owns the building, and who will get re-imbursed for all that expenditure?
It’s about time.They did something without building
Educate these costly but nere do wells at home. Their parents get hundreds a week in extra benefits, just for burdening society with costly millstones.
Not ‘their’ fault, but neither is it ours.
Most will only need to learn how to sign their name for future benefits, so why waste even more hard to come by cash on dead wood?
Let charity fund any extra, but get those who bred these children to play the ‘wheels on the bus’ tape daily, not some overpaid ‘teacher’.
Pathetic comment, you obviously don’t know anything about this subject
social, emotional and mental health conditions would be taught in new facilities at the former Studio School in East Cowes.
jeez – these weaklings aren’t going to last 5 minutes when they become adults – they need to be taught – either you get off your arse, develop some resilience and stop crying over everything or you will find out the hard way, that once you turn 18 you are on your own, just like everyone else and you need to work to put food on the table and pay your bills – or you are homeless and hungry.
for most of them – a life of hopeless benefit sponging beckons.
Pathetic comment, you obviously don’t know anything about this subject