Issue - meetings

The Corporate Director of Children & Education to present a report which provides details of a proposed capital scheme to re-organise the site of Clifton Green Primary School to develop provision that will support better outcomes for children with SEND.

Resolved:  (i)      That Option 3 be approved; that is, to re-organise internal rooms and spaces and address safeguarding and security issues that affect the external areas within the school site.

                   (ii)      That approval be given to submit planning application for the scheme.

                   (iii)     That approval be given to undertake a procurement process to secure a contractor to carry out the works, and that authority be delegated to the Corporate Director of Children and Education (in consultation with the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, the Chief Finance Officer and the Director of Governance or their delegated officers) to take such steps as are necessary to procure, award and enter into the resulting contract, subject to the winning bid being within the budget set out in paragraph 17 of the report.

Reasons:   a)      To ensure that the use of the rooms and spaces within Clifton Green Primary are suitable and sufficient to meet the needs of children, to reduce the number of pupils that need to access other specialist provision around the city, and to improve the security and safeguarding of pupils and others using the site. 

b)      This work supports the outcomes of the Inclusion Review which will provide more suitable provision in mainstream settings for neurodiverse children and for those with a primary need of SEMH (Social and Emotional Mental Health.

The Corporate Director of Children & Education and the Assistant Director, Education & Skills presented a report which provided details of a proposed capital scheme to re-organise the site of Clifton Green Primary School to develop provision that would support better outcomes for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

Clifton Green Primary currently faced an increasing number of challenges due to teaching and intervention areas that were inaccessible, incorrectly located around the school building, or could not be used.  The following options were available, as detailed in paragraphs 12-17 of the report:

Option 1 – do nothing.  Not recommended, as the current room and space arrangements did not meet pupils’ needs.

Option 2 – re-organise internal rooms and spaces only (estimated cost £1.28m).  Not recommended, as it would not address all the issues, including staff’s ability to keep children safe and secure.

Option 3 – as per option 2, but also address safeguarding and security issues affecting external areas, as recommended (estimated cost £1.5m). 

The Executive Member for Children, Young People & Education thanked officers for their work in creating a solution tailor-made to this school, in order to provide support for young people. Having noted the comments made on this item under Public Participation, it was

Resolved:  (i)      That Option 3 be approved; that is, to re-organise internal rooms and spaces and address safeguarding and security issues that affect the external areas within the school site.

                  (ii)     That approval be given to submit planning application for the scheme.

                  (iii)     That approval be given to undertake a procurement process to secure a contractor to carry out the works, and that authority be delegated to the Corporate Director of Children and Education (in consultation with the Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, the Chief Finance Officer and the Director of Governance or their delegated officers) to take such steps as are necessary to procure, award and enter into the resulting contract, subject to the winning bid being within the budget set out in paragraph 17 of the report.

Reasons:   a)      To ensure that the use of the rooms and spaces within Clifton Green Primary are suitable and sufficient to meet the needs of children, to reduce the number of pupils that need to access other specialist provision around the city, and to improve the security and safeguarding of pupils and others using the site. 

b)      This work supports the outcomes of the Inclusion Review which will provide more suitable provision in mainstream settings for neurodiverse children and for those with a primary need of SEMH (Social and Emotional Mental Health.