Parents, carers and stakeholders in Dudley borough are being invited to take part in a consultation on the proposal to add a SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) Unit to Jessons Primary School, a maintained primary school
Dudley Council has a statutory duty to provide each child in its area with an appropriate school place. There is an identified need within the Dudley area for places for children with Special Educational Needs with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
The Council is consulting on plans to provide an inclusive SEND Unit at Jessons Primary School, which will meet the needs of up to 12 young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan.
Related Proposals
There are three more SEND Units in primary proposed across the borough :
Dawley Brook Primary School
Rufford Primary School (Invictus Education Trust)
Bromley Pensnett Primary School (DRB Ignite Multi Academy Trust)
As well as one resource provision at Crestwood Academy (Secondary)
All responses must be received by midnight 30 June 2023
Alternative language and large print formats are also available available on request.
Proposals
In September 2023, Dudley Council (the Council) will set up a SEND Unit at Jessons Primary School to meet the needs of pupils with complex communication and cognition and with an Education, Health and Care Plan. This is part of the Council’s SEND improvement journey, and in response to an identified lack of such provision.
The Council is consulting on proposals to make this specialist inclusion base at Jessons Primary School, a permanent addition to the school. Jessons Primary School is a one form entry primary school located in the West of Dudley and takes pupils aged from 3-11.
In 2019 the Council identified that it had a gap in provision to meet the needs of pupils who require high levels of support with an Education, Health and Care Plan. Two social, emotional and mental health difficulties (SEMH) bases were created in the last three years to provide provision for primary age children with an EHCP with a primary need of SEMH. This has proven to be a successful model and has gone some way to addressing the identified gap, however there is still a shortfall of base provision within the borough.
Following an bidding process, the Council has selected Jessons Primary School to develop an inclusive base where pupils will be able to be taught in a dedicated unit by specialist staff with opportunities to integrate into mainstream classes as and when appropriate.
It is anticipated that this will provide an appropriate education for up to 12 pupils and will provide a tried and tested solution for the Council to support our SEND children within their community, providing the curriculum, environment and staff they need without a move into a specialist setting.
The Council is proposing to change the designation of this mainstream school to include a SEND Unit.
This will be to meet the needs of pupils with high support needs for communication and interaction and cognition and learning with an EHCP.
Pupils will be taught in a dedicated classroom environment with support from highly trained staff. Pupils will have the opportunity to access a mainstream classroom as and when it is felt appropriate to do so.
The Council has a statutory duty to provide each child in its area with an appropriate education or school place and to secure the provision specified in Section F of a child or young person’s EHC Plan (section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014).
In recent years, Dudley has seen a sustained increase in the need for specialist educational provision for primary age pupils who require high levels of support, which has led the Council to conclude that an increase in the amount of base provision to accommodate these pupils would be an effective use of Council resources.
An open process was conducted with bids invited from both maintained schools and academies. Through this rigorous and transparent process Jessons Primary School was identified as the preferred setting alongside three other primary school and one secondary school.
Jessons Primary School is experienced in meeting the needs of pupils with SEND. The site is spacious enough to accommodate additional pupils with some internal and external alterations.
The additional pupils at the school will be educated in a separate designated base provision with specialist staff supporting them. There will be opportunities where these pupils are supported to integrate into the mainstream classes when it is appropriate to do so. It is anticipated that the resources placed into this base will also benefit strategies already implemented in the school.
There are no anticipated changes which will affect staff at the school, although there may be additional continuing professional development opportunities for staff who wish to be in a more specialised provision.
Whilst it is not anticipated that this will affect the local community adversely in the long term, there may be some short term disruption as works are carried out at the school in order to develop the physical aspect of this project. The local community will benefit from having more appropriate SEND provision in the heart of the community.
There will be some changes to the school buildings in order to accommodate these extra pupils. Changes are largely internal modifications in order to make this a self-contained unit with access to outdoor space. There are some changes proposed to external space and this will be completed through a phased approach.
There is a statutory process we must follow to make these sorts of changes to schools. At the moment we are entering the consultation stage during which we are inviting views on the proposal from pupils, parents, staff, all schools, local community, neighbouring authorities, local councillors, members of parliament and professional associations.
If a decision is taken that this specialist provision should not be added to Jessons Primary School then the Council’s ability to effectively meet the needs of this vulnerable group of pupils will be diminished and the Council will need to reconsider how these additional places can be provided elsewhere, which is likely to mean that some children will have to travel further to attend school and that costs to meet these pupils educational needs may be more expensive.
Have your say
Downloading and completing the survey at the bottom of the page and posting it to:
Consultation Responses - JESSONS Executive Support Team - Children’s c/o The Council House Priory Road Dudley, DY1 1HF
Hardcopies of this consultation, along with large print versions and translations into other languages, are available on request to the above address (A maximum of 2 copies per request or individual).
All responses must be received by midnight 30 June 2023.
Consultees include, but are not limited to:
Pupils, parents and staff of Jessons Primary School.
Centre for Equality & Diversity.
Chairs of Governors of Dudley Schools.
Dudley Councillors.
Dudley Association of Governing Bodies.
Dudley Safeguarding Children Partnership Group - a sub-group of Dudley Safeguarding People Partnership Board.
