Decision details

The Cabinet Member considered a report which indicated Oxfordshire’s Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND) Sufficiency Delivery Strategy identified the need for two new special schools in the south-east of Oxfordshire, one for children with Social, Emotional & Mental Health and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder (SEMH/ASD) needs, and one for children with Profound & Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD) or Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD), and other associated needs.

Oxfordshire County Council would not run either of the new schools. The 2011 Education Act requires that all new schools are expected to be academies/free schools. This law meant that they are not run by the county council except in exceptional circumstances. Instead, academies were run by independent academy trusts.

Didcot currently had no special schools. The nearest maintained community special schools (primarily educating children with PMLD/SLD needs) were in Abingdon and Wantage. This meant children and young people with SEND faced long journeys to access suitable education provision.

Resolved to:

a.    Approve the specification for the new special school serving the

Didcot area, and for a competitive process to be launched to identify an  academy sponsor to run the school.

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