Telford & Wrekin Council to consult on creation of specialist school
Telford & Wrekin Council is poised to launch a consultation with the aim of creating a specialist school for children with autism and emotional and behavioural development needs at the existing Jigsaw School.
The plans would initially see the school managed and governed by one of our schools – allowing for more detailed proposals to be presented to the council’s cabinet in the future.
The results of the consultation with partners, stakeholders and parents will also be brought back to a future cabinet meeting prior to further consideration of a final option for the school’s future.
A report to the council’s next cabinet meeting on February 23 says that current special education provision for Autistic Spectrum Disorders and children with complex emotional, behavioural and social difficulties does not meet present need.
This results in a number of high cost external education placements outside Telford and Wrekin and the new proposals aim to address these issues.
Current figures have shown that the largest group of children and young people in external placements were those with either Autistic Spectrum Disorders or Behavioural, Emotional and Social Development needs.
The conclusion from this is that this group could form a specialist school operating from the Jigsaw School site. If this is approved, a period of transition will need to take place with changes being implemented over a number of years.
The benefits of this would include the needs of this specific group being addressed, the council would realise financial savings by reducing the amount of external placements and journey times would be reduced for children and young people and their families.
Councillor Paul Watling, cabinet member for Children, Young People and Families, said: “We feel this is the best way of ensuring that these vulnerable children get the best educational experience possible in the most appropriate environment.
“A secondary consideration is that it will ensure the council gets the best value for money from the service provided at the Jigsaw School as well as making the best possible use of the site’s resources.
“I would stress however in keeping with our Co-operative Council ethos that these are only proposals and we will be carrying out a full consultation in the coming weeks before another report comes back to council to outline our findings.”
