To consider any questions which may have been received from Elected Members and which are asked pursuant to Standing Order No. 10.
Minutes:
The Chief Executive reported that pursuant to Standing Order No. 10 she had received the following question, in three parts, from Councillor G Carr:
‘How many SEN pupils within the borough with a special needs statement for a placement in a specialist facility are receiving their education in mainstream schools?’
Councillor Cheetham, Cabinet Spokesperson for People (Achieving Potential) commented that specialist placements were only named in an SEN statement once the placement had been secured for the pupil. There was currently one exception whereby a named specialist school placement was secured for a pupil but parents refused to send the child to that school due to an unfavourable Ofsted report. The pupil remained in a mainstream setting until an acceptable alternative was secured.
‘Out of the overall school population, how many exclusions have been imposed because of the risk to the pupils, staff or children?’
Fixed Term Exclusions were recorded by categories defined by the DfE and were not specific to risk, to pupils, staff or children. However, the majority of exclusions in Secondary schools were for ‘attitude towards staff’ (1086) followed by ‘defiance’ (571). In primary schools the data showed that ‘violence to pupils’ carried the highest number of fixed term exclusions (48) followed by ‘violence to staff’ (43). It was difficult to define if the exclusions were due to risk to staff or children because schools choose the category in which to record the reason for exclusion. For example, ‘inappropriate behaviour’ could mean anything from assault to disruption. In addition, the data showed that a number of children with Special Educational Needs also receive Fixed Term Exclusions. However the numbers reduce when pupils had received an Educational Health Care Plan or Statement of Special Educational Need. This could be due to the extra provision they were receiving in school or that they have been moved on to a more specialist provision that better meet their needs.
‘What are the predicted numbers of places for the future? How are the numbers calculated when planning new homes developments?’
The formula for estimating the numbers of additional pupils from new developments was 21 primary pupils and 15 secondary pupils per 100 dwellings. Current net capacity for primary schools was 19827, with 19218 currently on roll, reflecting an oversupply of 609 places. This oversupply was forecast to fall to 247 for the academic year 2016/17, before rising to 423 for 2017/18, 719 for 2018/19 and 1011 for 2019/20. For secondary schools the current net capacity was 12800 places. According to census information there were currently 10682 pupils on roll, reflecting an oversupply of 2118 places. This ‘oversupply’ figure was forecast to gradually reduce year on year until 2022 when there would be a shortage of 25 places, increasing to a shortage of 236 places in 2023.
Councillor G. Carr commented that the question related specifically to SEN pupils, not the general school population, as this seems to be an escalating problem. She declined to ask a supplementary question.