Knowsley’s Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities (SEND) Sufficiency Plan for 2023-2028 has been published.
The plan aims to enable all children and young people to have opportunities to access high quality educational settings that maximise their potential and meet their needs. This supports the Council’s key priorities of ensuring children get the best start in life, education to improve their life chances and supporting children and families to thrive.
Importantly, the plan has been developed in partnership with local parents and carers through a range of engagement events that took place throughout 2022, as well as young people and schools across the borough.
Knowsley has a slightly higher proportion of its population who have an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) – 5.3% of children and young people have an EHCP compared to 5% nationally – and data shows that this figure is rising year on year.
A number of measures have been put in place to meet this growing demand – across all ages – which includes:-
- Establishment of post-19 provision at Flourish for young people with complex needs
- More spaces created at Alt Bridge secondary school, Meadow Park, Knowsley Central Primary School and Eastcroft Primary School
- More places available at the Social and Emotional Mental Health provision at Finch Woods Academy particularly at Key Stage 2 for the first time in the borough
- Over the last three years, over 100 additional special school placements have been created locally with clear plans to create more where possible
This work will continue over the coming years as the sufficiency plan progresses.
You can read the Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities Sufficiency Plan 2023-2028 here.