Cheshire East is hoping existing special schools in the borough will be interested in opening a satellite special needs facility at the council’s former HQ at Westfields in Sandbach.
In January, after learning the Government would not fund its plans to turn Westfields into a school for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the council agreed to foot the bill itself.
The Children and Families Committee voted to undertake the free school presumption process to identify and obtain agreement for a new school sponsor, (ITALICS writes local democracy reporter Belinda Ryan).
At its April meeting, the committee amended that decision and voted to pursue expressions of interest from existing state-funded SEND schools in Cheshire East to open a satellite at Westfields, as an expansion of their existing school.
If no suitable proposal was submitted locally, the council would revert to its previous decision.
The Conservatives feared this could delay the new school, which has a target opening date of September 2028.
But Coun Sarah Bennett-Wake (Macclesfield) said: “I’m glad that we’ve spoken to the Department for Education, and it has suggested that we approach our local schools first and their children and families, which is really important when you’re dealing with special educational needs and disabilities.”
She said these schools had the expertise and “can jump straight in”.
“If none of our local schools want to take this on board as a satellite, we’ve still got the original plan, which was free school presumption,” she said.
Knutsford councillor Stewart Gardiner was not convinced.
“Of course, it’s imperative that we provide the best facilities we can for our children, particularly those children with SEND requirements,” he said.
But he wanted to know why local schools and other providers further afield could not put forward their cases at the same time – rather than have a two-stage process which, he feared, would delay things.
Committee chair Laura Crane (Sandbach) told him: “The whole point is that for a free school bid, the maintained schools aren’t allowed to apply, so they’re excluded from the process.”
Coun Gardiner said that should have been pointed out to councillors in the report.
Coun Jos Saunders (Poynton) said: “We’re being asked to make a decision for which we didn’t have all the information – yet again. I find this really disturbing, to be honest.”
She said the existing special schools in Cheshire East were doing “a great job” but “we’re asking them to take on more and more, which worries me”.
Coun Saunders said the committee wanted the very best education for children with special needs “but this potentially delays it, because if one school doesn’t come forward, we then have to go back to the drawing board again and open it up to everybody else”.
Iain Peel, interim director for education, said the benefits kicked in if a local provider was to be identified early.
“Local providers already know the children,” he said.
“They already know the schools that they’re already working with, they can work then closely with the neighbouring schools around workforce strategies, they’re involved in the local SEND reforms that we’re putting together that we’ve got to submit to the DfE in mid-June.”
The committee voted in favour of the recommendation to seek interest from local special schools first.
