Giving all children a good start in life
One of the county council’s priorities is ensuring all Lincolnshire children get a good education, giving them a firm foundation for the future. An important strand of this work is ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) receive the right support.
Traditionally, special schools have only catered for specific needs. This has created significant challenges for Lincolnshire families, with children sometimes having to travel large distances for their education. We wanted better for our children, so, over the last few years, we’ve invested £100m in Lincolnshire’s special schools so they can support all needs, ensuring children and young people with SEND can access education and support as close to home as possible.
Last month, we celebrated our latest success story – the opening of the new St Lawrence School in Horncastle. This wonderful new facility will provide a much better learning environment for the pupils, helping them make the most of their time at the school.
The new school has 17 classrooms, three of which are designed for pupils with profound and multiple learning disabilities. In addition, there is a new hall and studio, allowing the school to offer rebound therapy and physical education. This is complemented by spaces for soft play, sensory play, physiotherapy, life skills, social recreation and calming.
Reorganised and improved outdoor play spaces include a sensory garden, horticulture area, formal and informal sport pitches and outdoor exercise equipment. Finally, the site has been redesigned to provide improved drop off and pick up facilities and increased parking for staff and visitors.
In few weeks’ time, we’ll celebrate another success – the opening of a new extension at St Christopher’s School in Lincoln. However, the improvements won’t stop there. We are now looking to build upon this first phase, which has seen around 500 additional places created, with a second wave of improvements.
Plans include a new school for pupils who need social, emotional and mental health support and an expansion of the Grantham Additional Needs Fellowship special school. This will be complemented by the development of a network of SEND hubs in mainstream schools across the county. These hubs will support pupils who can follow a mainstream curriculum but require the more supportive environment typically found within a special school.
Alongside the wider improvements, this will ensure all pupils can receive the right support, at the right time and as close to home as possible.