Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely has welcomed news that the Isle of Wight has been granted funding for a new Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) free school.
The Department for Education has agreed to provide funding for a new Isle of Wight-based SEND free school, approving the Isle of Wight Council’s joint bid with Hampshire County Council following multiple meetings and letters from the Island’s MP.
Mr Seely said that government ministers had written to him “to confirm that our excellent bid was successful.”
Mr Seely said: “I am delighted to be able to confirm that the Island’s bid for a new special educational needs school has been accepted.
“This is important news for the Island’s education, and I am delighted that Conservative ministers responded so positively to the case that the Isle of Wight Council and I made.”
Mr Seely thanked the council officers and councillors involved in the bid, as well as Department for Education Minister Claire Coutinho, with whom Seely has spoken regularly throughout the bidding process; Seely said “In my conversations with her, I made clear how important this was to the Island and I am delighted that she agreed.”
The confirmation follows a number of letters to, and meetings with, Department for Education ministers, encouraging them to accept the Isle of Wight Council-submitted bid.
In October last year, Mr Seely wrote to the Minister for Schools and Childhood, supporting the Council’s bid and making the Minister aware of the increased number of children with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) on the Island and the difficulty the council had setting a balanced budget for the schools’ 'high needs block'.
He explained that “the provision of a new special school on the Island is essential” to meet the Council’s ambition to reduce placement costs. He explained that, without a new SEND school, parents “will increasingly have to place children off-Island in expensive independent placements.” The alternative – placing children in suitable schools on the Island – “will help children and young people achieve better whilst also keeping families and communities together.”
Following this letter, Mr Seely met with Minister Coutinho to explain why she should support the Isle of Wight Council’s bid. Commenting on this meeting, Seely said: “I made it very clear to the Minister that the Isle of Wight is short of SEND places and that we need a new SEND school here as a matter of urgency.
“The case for the Isle of Wight is strong because we also have practical reasons for needing additional places here with some Island families needing to send their children to the mainland to access SEND placements. For these families being further away from their children is not only upsetting, it is also inconvenient and costly. It is also costly for our local authority. The more placements we can create on the Island the better.”
In February, Mr Seely wrote to Minister for the School System and Student Finance Baroness Barran, requesting an update on the council’s bid and a meeting. Mr Seely wrote: “Without this additional school, increasing numbers of Island children will have to attend expensive off-Island independent placements. A new SEN school on the Island will keep families together, help both parents and the Council to keep costs down, whilst providing children and young people with a high-quality specialised education.”
Reflecting on his campaign to support the Island’s SEND school bid, Mr Seely welcomed the news as the latest development in his plan to ‘get a better deal’ for the Isle of Wight: “Five years ago, I promised that – working with the Isle of Wight Council and others – we would get a better deal for the Island. A new SEND school is part of that better deal.”
The Department for Education will now invite applications from proposer groups to administer the new free school. They will announce their decision in Autumn 2023.
