More than £9m to create over 100 new special needs places in Somerset schools
Government funding will also pay for specialist places and accessibility upgrades
More than £9m of government funding will be spent over the coming months to create more than 100 new special needs places in Somerset schools.
The money will pay for new special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) units in mainstream schools, as well as specialist places and accessibility improvements.
Somerset Council has been struggling in recent years to deal with rising numbers of children and young people with SEND, leading to lengthy delays in care plan assessments.
The Department for Education (DfE) provides grant funding to local authorities to deliver new SEND school places through its high needs provision capital allocation (HNPCA).
It can be spent either on places within mainstream schools, known as SEND units, or within specialist facilities.
The expanded programme
The council approved a three-year programme in October 2025 to deliver new SEND places.
It aimed to provide 264 new SEND units and 88 new specialist places by late 2028.
Following the delivery of the first six SEND units, the programme has now been expanded after more than £9.3m of further DfE grants was secured.
The expanded programme will see the number of mainstream SEND places increased to 344 by late 2029.
SEND units are currently operational at a number of mainstream Somerset schools, including:
- Avishayes Community Primary School, Chard
- Bishop Henderson Church of England Primary School, Coleford
- Burnham-on-Sea Infant School, Burnham-on-Sea
- Dulverton Junior School, Dulverton
- Hatch Beauchamp Church of England Primary School, Hatch Beauchamp
- Hindhayes Infant School, Street
- Holway Park Community Primary School, Taunton
- Knights Templar Community Church School, Watchet
- Northgate Primary School, Bridgwater
- Oaklands Primary School, Yeovil
- St Andrew's Junior School, Burnham-on-Sea
- Wadham School, Crewkerne
- Westover Green Community School and Autism Centre, Bridgwater
- Willowdown Primary School, Bridgwater
Where the money will go
Of the £9,331,000 provided by the most recent DfE grant, £3,840,000 will be spent looking to deliver new SEND units or expand provision at the following schools:
- Avishayes Community Primary School, Chard (eight places)
- Blackbrook Primary School, Taunton (eight places)
- Court Fields School, Wellington (eight places)
- Fairlands Middle School, Cheddar (eight places)
- Herne View Church of England Primary School, Ilminster (eight places)
- Maiden Beech Academy, Crewkerne (24 places)
- St Benedict's Church of England VA Junior School, Glastonbury (eight places)
- St John's Church of England VC Infants School, Glastonbury (eight places)
- West Monkton Church of England Primary School, West Monkton (eight places)
- Whitstone School, Shepton Mallet (eight places)
- Woolavington Village Primary School, Woolavington (eight places)
Each individual project will be subject to detailed feasibility studies and consultation work to ensure proposals are appropriate for the individual school and the needs of the local area.
Of the remaining funding, £2,616,000 will be allocated towards providing up to 24 additional spaces at the Mendip School in Shepton Mallet.
The school provides specialist support for pupils aged four to 19 with speech, language or autism needs, and is run by the Radstock-based Partnership Trust.
It will use the funding to deliver an additional classroom, as well as investigating the prospect of a satellite facility in Frome.
A further £1,680,000 will be spent on delivering 42 'inclusion support bases'.
These are mainstream facilities which provide additional support for pupils who are struggling but either do not require a SEND unit or do not need an education, health and care plan (EHCP).
Another £400,000 will be spent on providing alternative provision in Frome and the former West Somerset area, addressing known gaps.
A further £340,000 will go on accessibility improvements, such as wheelchair ramps, lifts and hygiene rooms.
What the council says
Councillor Evie Potts-Jones, the Liberal Democrat portfolio holder for SEND, public health, equalities and diversity, introduced the report when the council's executive committee met in Taunton on Wednesday 7th October.
Ms Potts-Jones, who represents the Yeovil West division, said: "At the heart of this is something very simple: making sure that children and young people with SEND can access the right provision, in the right place, at the right time."
She also said: "It's not simply about increasing the number of places. It's about developing a more inclusive and sustainable education system, with more children and young people able to access appropriate provision closer to their homes, families, and communities."
She added: "But buildings and places alone will not deliver the change we want to see. This investment needs to work alongside our wider focus on inclusion, early intervention, sufficiency and, most importantly, better outcomes for children and young people."
The funding allocation followed the agreement of a SEND reform plan with the DfE, which will see 90 per cent of the council's special needs funding deficit written off.
Councillor Heather Shearer, portfolio holder for children, families and education, said: "This is all about thinking local first – it's about making sure children have good places to go to, close to their homes, and that they have the best school life that they can possibly get."
Costs and transport
It costs an average of £35,000 to deliver a SEND place as part of a mainstream unit, though the cost can vary greatly depending on the age of the existing school buildings and other related factors.
The council believes the investment will allow more children to be supported nearer to their homes, providing a better quality of life, cutting school transport costs and reducing the need for potentially costly independent placements outside the county.
Phil Curd, the council's head of education places, said: "We've looked at the end of September this year and the end of September last year."
He also said: "Despite having more children with EHCPs and more children in specialist provision, we have less children on SEND transport and the number of routes has come down by about eight per cent."
He added: "This work is starting to have an impact in that children, regardless of their needs, are being able to be taught more frequently in their local community."