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Re-organisation of Norfolk Special Educational Needs

Norfolk County Council has been reviewing its Special Education Needs strategy since 2006. Norwich Green Party supported the aims of bringing an equity of provision of Special Needs education to each of the five areas of the County, however, there are a number of issues with the current approach that have concerned the Green Councillors and parents and residents. We argue places must be increased not lost in Norwich, and any savings must be ploughed back into the service. Crucially, school cultures and specialisms, built up over many years by dedicated head teachers and staff, must not be lost.


However, there are a number of issues with the current approach that have concerned the Green Councillors and parents and residents with whom we have spoken:

  1. There are no planned increases in Special School places despite growing numbers of children needing specialist SEN provision due to progress in early medical intervention, and projected growth particularly in the Norwich area.
  2. Provision of special school places in the (Norwich) Central area is planned to reduce from 393 places to 270 places.
  3. The County Council favoured option reduces the number of schools from 4 to 3 for the Central Area.
  4. Schools are defined as 'site to be determined' meaning that each of the 4 current Norwich schools is in doubt.
  5. There are changes the model of education that could impact current and future pupils and parents (see details of Parent's concerns).

Bob Gledhill, Green Party councillor for Nelson ward, said: "Norwich Green Party is taking a clear and strong line to try and ensure this review will increase SEN provision and benefit Norfolk children for years to come. We will argue against the closure of existing schools that are performing well and for service expansion in the Norwich area given projected growth. We believe that any savings made by the review must be ploughed back into expanding the service."


Norwich Green Party argues…

It is essential that the education bosses consider the whole picture and plan the provision for the next 5, 10 and 20 years based on realistic trends of pressures; on ploughing savings back into the service; and in ensuring that the best schools and teaching are preserved. In particular:

  1. Places in the Norwich area should not be drastically reduced whilst Norwich is rapidly expanding.
  2. Norfolk has only 0.79 per cent children in special schools compared to 3 per cent in some counties. Special school places across Norfolk should be planned to increase annually and that the budget for this important service should be increased. Greens called for additional funding in the recent Budget debate.
  3. Reducing long journeys for children is good (less stressful) for the children. It also makes savings on transport costs. For each million pounds saved on transport, a further 250 special school places should be created.
  4. School cultures and specialisms, built up over many years by dedicated head teachers and staff, cannot just be redistributed by a numbers game. The review must find good ways to take forward the current excellent practice by dedicated staff in some schools.

What we have done

We have supported parents from the Norwich area schools who have wanted to make their concerns known via the complex committee process at County Hall. Andrew Boswell who is the local Councillor for the Ward containing one of the threatened schools, Parkside, has raised the issue at the Review Panel, Cabinet and Scrutiny.


What we have achieved

Andrew Boswell called in the review process to the Cabinet Scrutiny Committee at County Hall. This enabled the plans to be examined in more detail by a cross-party group of County Councillors. One outcome was that the next stage of plans after the feasibility study will be brought back to the Scrutiny Committee before being agreed by the Council's Cabinet. This is expected to be in July 2008. Another outcome is that the Council agreed to a greater level of parent involvement in developing the strategy.