New plans have been drawn up to address the increasing need for school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities across Liverpool.
Last year, as part of its proposals to meet the “dramatic increase” in need for school places, Liverpool Council had suggested Bank View School on Long Lane in Fazakerley should relocate 14 miles away to Parklands in Speke. Following a lengthy consultation and widespread concern from parents, the local authority shelved those proposals and is now embarking on a new public engagement programme.
Stakeholders across the city are now being asked to feed back on plans to create Bank View South, a satellite of Bank View High School, at the former Parklands School site, Ganworth Road. Bank View School would remain at its site in Fazakerley, but a new satellite site would open at Parklands for children with complex needs.
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It would be used from the next school year for up to 60 Year 7 pupils, increasing by a year group each year until it has a total of 300 pupils up to Year 11. Educating children at the new site would be more cost effective according to Liverpool Council, potentially saving up to £1.4m in comparison to placing children at schools in the non-maintained or independent sectors.
A second four-week consultation will be held on the creation of a satellite location for Palmerston School on the former Palmerston site, on Beaconsfield Road. The former school building, which was closed when the new school building opened, would be used for pupils with severe/profound and multiple learning difficulties.
The satellite site will offer a curriculum for students aged 14-19 and an increase in the number of Year 7 pupils on the main site. If the former land is not re-opened, the city council estimates educating this number of young people in the non-maintained or independent sector would cost up to £1.6m more.
If the proposals are approved, then both new sites would be operational from September 1, with any building work taking place before the end of the summer term. Headteachers and governing bodies of the existing school would remain in place at the satellite locations.
Both consultations are open until Wednesday, 15 February. Details on how to share feedback are on Liverpool Council’s consultation webpage.
Cllr Tomas Logan, Liverpool Council cabinet member for Education and Skills, said: “We have been able to develop these proposals from the feedback that parents, carers, schools and other stakeholders shared with us last year and we are asking once again for everyone to consider these new proposals and tell us what they think. From the number of children currently in the final years of primary education we know that increasing Year 7 places is particularly urgent, and these two proposals would support this aim, as well as ensuring that we can further increase the number of places for other school years going forward.”
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