RIVERSIDE SCHOOL

PROPOSED CHANGE OF THE SCHOOL’S SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS CHARACTERISTICS

East Riding of Yorkshire Council is proposing to change the type of need catered for at Riverside School to support children with severe and complex needs.

Local Authority Details

Pupil Services Children, Families and Schools East Riding of Yorkshire Council County Hall Cross Street Beverley East Riding of Yorkshire HU17 9BA

School Details

Riverside School is a Community Special School and the school address is:

Riverside School Ainsty Street Goole East Riding of Yorkshire DN14 5JS

Description of Alteration and Evidence of Demand

East Riding of Yorkshire Council is proposing to change the type of need catered for at the school. The school is currently registered to cater for pupils with the following special educational needs:-

SEN Priority 1 – Moderate Learning Difficulty SEN Priority 2 – Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Speech, Language and Communication

The proposed special educational needs provision at the school would be for pupils with severe and complex learning needs.

East Riding of Yorkshire currently has three special schools that cater for the learning needs of a range of children and young people; between them they admit those with severe, complex and moderate learning difficulties, details of the three schools are below.

Capacity in the three special schools proves less than demand and as a result, year on year we have many children and young people placed in special provision administered by neighbouring local authorities including Kingston Upon Hull and North Yorkshire, and a further group that attend schools in the independent and private sector.

The change in the description of the school’s special educational needs characteristics is to provide uniformity of provision across all three of East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s special schools and to ensure that parents are aware that each school is able to meet the same level of needs as the others. There is currently disparity of provision and the use of different terminology to describe each schools special educational needs provision leads to lack of clarity for parents. There is a need therefore to use a common terminology across all three schools so that, where appropriate, parents can recognise that their child’s needs can be met at any of the three special schools.

The change in designation at Riverside School would also increase the capacity across the authority for children with severe and complex needs and thereby help reduce the need for out of area placements.

Objectives

The main aim is to create a common offer for the current special schools – Riverside, King’s Mill and St. Anne’s - so that all children requiring a special school place can attend the designated special school serving their geographical area. Although the schools will not have a designated catchment area initially, they would serve the North, West and East of the Authority. Riverside School would therefore serve the West of the authority area.

In addition, East Riding is seeking to gradually reduce the number of children and young people who attend out-of-area special schools, or who attend private and independent sector schools both within and outside East Riding of Yorkshire. Adjustments to the nature and range of provision within the special schools will contribute to this reduction by providing more children with a wider range of special school provision closer to their homes in the East Riding. Alongside these developments in educational special provision, the proposed changes will also create opportunities for extended Early Years and post 16 placements for children and young people with severe and complex learning needs.

The table below sets out the nature and range of provision currently available at each of the special schools.

School SEN Characteristics Age Nursery Range Provision Riverside School, SEN Priority 1 – Moderate Learning Difficulty Goole SEN Priority 2 – Autistic Spectrum Disorder, 5 - 16 No Speech, Language and Communication King’s Mill SEN Priority 1 – Autistic Spectrum Disorder School, Driffield SEN Priority 2 – Severe Learning Difficulty, 2 - 19 Yes Physical Difficulty St Anne’s School, SEN Priority 1 – Severe Learning Difficulty Welton 3 - 19 Yes

Benefits of Area Special Schools

Creating three area special schools would result in: • Consistency across the three special schools in offering provision to meet the needs of ALL children, including those with severe and complex difficulties; • More local provision available for children with a wider range of special needs thereby reducing the need for children to be transported outside of their geographical area or outside East Riding of Yorkshire; • Early years provision becoming available at all three special schools; • Post 16 provision becoming available at all three special schools, giving more equitable access for children and young people across the three areas, without the need for travel out of area.

Travel Time and Costs

The three special schools in East Riding of Yorkshire are already gradually moving towards offering the same range of provision. Post 16 education was introduced in St Anne’s in September 2011 and at King’s Mill in September 2013. These changes have enabled children to access their nearest special school rather than, in some cases, having to travel long distances to attend a special school that can meet their needs.

Not only do these changes, together with the proposed future changes, substantially reduce the travelling times for many children, it should also mean that less has to be spent on transport. Access to a more local school will also help some parents have a greater involvement with their child’s education and school life as it will be easier for them to attend meetings and events.

Other Proposed Changes

In order to create three area special schools with a common provision, the following changes are also being proposed, but are subject to separate public notices.

King’s Mill School - Change in upper age limit from 19 years of age to 25 years of age Change in upper age limit from 19 years of age to 25 years of age

St Anne’s School - Change in Special Educational Needs Characteristics to Severe and Complex Learning Needs Change in upper age limit from 19 years of age to 25 years of age Change in lower age limit from 3 years of age to 2 years of age

Riverside School - Change in upper age limit from 16 years of age to 25 years of age Change in lower age limit from 5 years of age to 2 years of age

Table of Provision if All Proposals are Approved

School SEN Characteristics Age Nursery Range Provision Riverside School, Severe and Complex Learning Needs 2 - 25 Yes Goole King’s Mill School, Severe and Complex Learning Needs 2 - 25 Yes Driffield St Anne’s School, Severe and Complex Learning Needs 2 - 25 Yes Welton

Impact on other Schools and Academies

The impact on other special schools would be minimal. The change in the type of need catered for would provide a consistency in provision across the three special schools maintained by East Riding of Yorkshire Council. Having all three schools providing for the same, wider range of special needs means we will have more consistent provision and will allow more parents to choose the special school nearest to their home address.

No children will have to move school as a result of the proposed change and the move towards the school serving its local community would be a gradual process. All children will therefore remain on roll at their current school. Requests from parents for their child to transfer from one school to another will be considered as part of an interim or annual review and be subject to a place being available.

Over time, there would be fewer children from East Riding of Yorkshire attending establishments outside the area. The reduction would be gradual, and as the number of children attending individual establishments is small, the impact would also be minimal.

Project Costs

Funding of £4.4m has been approved as part of the Council’s forward Capital Programme for the development of Area Special Schools. This funding is subject to sufficient future allocations and appropriate approvals being obtained

It is anticipated that the majority of the capital funding will be required to remodel and extend the provision at Riverside School to meet the needs of pupils with severe and complex needs. There are separate proposals to extend the upper and lower age range of the school as it currently does not have a nursery, reception class or post 16 provision and these costs will also be met from the capital allocation.

Revenue costs will be funded through the normal pupil funding process.

The current cost of home to school transport for children attending the three special schools maintained by East Riding of Yorkshire Council is around £1.5m per year. If all three schools are able to cater for the same range of special educational needs, parents will be able to choose to send their child to their nearest special school rather than a more distant one. It is estimated that there would be savings of around 40% of the cost of transport.

Consultation

Consultation on this and the proposals detailed above were undertaken in January 2014. A copy of the consultation document can be found at-

http://www2.eastriding.gov.uk/learning/schools-colleges-and-academies/schools-and-school- places/special-schools/

Implementation

It is proposed that the change to the special educational needs characteristics be implemented in 5 January 2015.

The change to the special educational needs characteristics of the school is significant and in order to cater for the full range of pupil’s needs, adaptations and alterations to the school’s accommodation will be required. There will also be a need for considerable staff training as the school currently caters for children with moderate learning difficulties. It is recognised that there may be some children with severe and complex needs that the school is able to admit and meet their needs straight away, however, there are others for whom the school could not meet their needs until the accommodation or training is in place. Admission of the full range of severe and complex needs will therefore be phased in over a period of time from January 2015 with full provision available when the building project is completed in September 2017. During this phasing in period applications will be assessed taking into account the accommodation and resources available together with the levels of staff training and expertise.

Responses to Proposal

Representation on the proposals, including support, objections or comments on the proposal should be sent by email or post to:

Email: [email protected]

Post: Alison Mottershaw School Organisation Officer Pupil Services Children, Families and Schools East Riding of Yorkshire Council County Hall Cross Street Beverley East Riding of Yorkshire HU17 9BA

All correspondence must be received no later than Friday 7 November 2014. Responses on the proposal will normally be made publicly available. Should you not wish this, please mark you response as confidential.