Rotherham Council’s Cabinet is set to receive an update on the support provided to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities through the SEND Sufficiency Strategy.
Cllr Victoria Cusworth saw for herself this week when she visited Maltby Manor the benefits of recent Council investment highlighted by the SEND Sufficiency Strategy, as it has created additional resource provision places across mainstream schools to provide more spaces for those with SEND.
It has also helped both mainstream and special schools to access funding to meet a wider level of SEND need through adapting current buildings.
This additional resource, including specialist provision, has led to an increase of 362 places for those who require additional support, in Rotherham between March 2021 and October 2024.
Since September 2024, five new resource provisions have opened in Rotherham including places at three existing provisions which has led to a total of 140 young people accessing resource provisions locally.
Through resource provisions students can access the support they need based on their individual requirements whilst attending mainstream classes and accessing the curriculum.
Maltby Manor Academy has recently renovated their caretaker’s bungalow to support the social, emotional, and mental wellbeing of students. The bungalow has been transformed to include quiet areas, a sensory room, and more. By renovating this space, it allows the school to take on more children with SEND and helps to keep them in mainstream education.
David Horrigan, Executive Director of Primary Education at Maltby Learning Trust, said: “By utilising the unused caretaker's bungalow, we are contributing to meeting the educational needs of some of the most vulnerable children in the school system. Our aim is to create a nurturing environment which not only helps children to develop academically, but also helps them to manage their feelings and emotions.
“The bungalow is now a warm and welcoming space, which has a calm and homely feel while focusing on the educational purpose. Through developing the specialist skills needed in the Reach provision, we also want to develop the skills of staff, enabling them to become even more effective at meeting the various needs of the children in our main school. We are passionate about enabling all young people to thrive, and this development is an important step in delivering that vision.”
Rotherham Council’s Cabinet Member for Children’s and Young People’s Services, Cllr Cusworth, said: “I believe that all children and young people should have access to an education regardless of whether they have additional needs. I’m extremely proud that Rotherham is currently above the national average for pupils either having a statutory plan or receiving SEND support.
“It is fantastic that we have created so many places at mainstream and specialist schools to support students with additional needs and shows that we are moving in the right direction to create a better future. It’s amazing to see that schools have begun to renovate areas to help support the emotional and mental wellbeing of pupils with SEND.”
Cabinet members will be presented the development of a long term SEND Sufficiency Strategy to take effect from Wednesday 1 April 2026 and will receive a report after a period of consultation has taken place.
In June 2024 Cabinet approved of the School’s Accessibility Strategy and Capital Funding Framework to support schools to in making the necessary adaptations to existing buildings in order to provide specialist and therapeutic support pupils with SEND.