Council leaders have pinned the blame for the impending closure of a much-loved access centre for SEND pupils on the academy trust that runs it. But opposition groups say the fault clearly lies with South Gloucestershire Council’s Conservative administration.
Parents campaigning to save the unit at Chipping Sodbury School appealed directly to the district’s political leaders at a full council meeting on Wednesday evening (February 15) and spoke passionately about how vital it was for their youngsters. Meanwhile, the boss of The Athelstan Trust, which is in charge of the centre, said it was a “horrible situation” caused by a lack of funding to the council from central government for pupils with special needs and disabilities.
Tory council leader Cllr Toby Savage told councillors he had agreed to meet parents to discuss the closure, which is due to happen by September 2024. It opened in 2014 and was funded for seven years by the local authority before it was converted into an academy.
Read more: Closing South Gloucestershire school's SEND centre would be a 'disaster' say families
A petition aimed at keeping it open has now received more than 900 signatures. It says the unit is “the first of many of the SEND provisions impacted by the Banding and Safety Valve agreements in South Gloucestershire".
This lays out steps agreed with the Department for Education to increase “value for money” in the type of provision offered and ways to “reduce the need” for education & healthcare plans. The school’s 10-year contract with the council expires in 2024 and the trust says it cannot renew it because its funding has been slashed.
A letter to parents from headteacher Katherine Turner said the £40,000 it used to receive per pupil had not increased over the last decade and that it now faced being left with a base of just £15,000 per pupil, which is not enough to meet the children’s needs. Lib Dem group leader Cllr Claire Young told full council: “The parents will have almost certainly had a long battle to get their child into the centre, and now when they thought they had the answer they see it being snatched away.
“It’s a disgrace that this council is risking the education of some of its most vulnerable children and I urge a rethink.” Labour Cllr Sandie Davis said: “I am dismayed at the rebanding structure and the savage way the cuts are ending up to those resource bases and access centres.
“We should be increasing resource bases and access centres. Without those we will be sending more children to independent schools.”
Lib Dem Cllr Adrian Rush told the Conservative council leaders: “You are disingenuous when you say it was the Athelstan Trust that has closed it. They have taken the decision but you forced their hand.
“It’s something that you knew you were going to do and you’ve even accused the school authorities at the trust of not cooperating. How on earth can they cooperate when they cannot see a way of making the access centre work with the funding you are suggesting?
“It’s crazy. You are going to get extra costs because those kids will go out of county.” Tory cabinet member for education Cllr Erica Williams said: “This decision by the trust came totally out of the blue.
“We asked the trust to come to the table. The trust refused to come to the table. We don’t see why there is any reason for it to close – through the banding changes there will still be sufficient funds for that access centre to remain open.”
After the meeting, Athelstan Trust chief executive Tim Gilson said: “Local government funding is being reduced and local politicians have an incredibly hard task. One of the most challenging areas in the entire system is funding for SEND where the council has statutory powers but limited resources.
“We worked very closely and positively with South Gloucestershire Council when we took Chipping Sodbury School into the trust. They were very supportive and I am not criticising anything they’ve done.
“Staff provide specialist one-to-one support for the students in our access centre who deserve the very best support we can give them. We simply can’t staff the access centre to the level needed to support the students on the current levels of funding.
“We met with council officers to explain the situation and say we could not carry on on the current basis. They went away and offered us a short-term fix to fund an additional teaching assistant for this year to get us through but when we said we couldn't sign a new service level agreement on the current funding, we haven’t had a revised offer.
“The disruption for the students moving is hugely stressful and challenging. The requirement of a long-term funding commitment to staff the access centre as it is is significant.
“The funding comes from central government, and the council is faced with incredibly tough choices and statutory responsibilities. I am not for one moment blaming the local authority for how they spend their money.
“They do not have easy choices and neither do we. It is a horrible situation.”
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