Decision details

Under section 14 of the Education Act 1996, Local Authorities have a statutory duty to ensure that there are sufficient schools for primary and secondary education in their areas and for securing that special educational provision is made for pupils who have special educational needs and disability (SEND).
The Council's SEND priorities are set out in the SEND Education Strategy and Action Plan 2018-21 and have three main aims:
• Improve capacity, reach and delivery of SEND education support services, based on local need
• Support inclusion improvement and sector-led co-ordination of SEND teaching and practice for all children with SEND age 0 – 25 years
• Deliver local education SEND placement sufficiency and reduce unsustainable costs driven by out of county placements and travel.
The capital project will fund works to expand The Aspire Academy to provide up to 120 places for children with special educational needs from primary age through to 6th Form.
The project will expand the Aspire Academy by remodelling and extending the former Bath Studio School site at Frome Road, Bath to create additional specialist school places for ambulant pupils.
The project will provide much needed additional SEND places for children in the Bath and North East Somerset catchment locally and allow them to be educated in their local communities and not travel, in some cases long distances to school. Additional local places at Aspire Academy would reduce the rising financial cost to the Local Authority and support the priorities set out in the SEND Education Strategy 2018-2021.

To fully approve capital amounting to £2,198,947 from the provisional capital programme item Basic Needs - School Improvement/Expansion of £15,366,000.

None. This project is part of a wider Education Strategy to improve sufficiency and reduce rising costs as demand for support for children with SEND increases. Following the closure of Bath Studio School 2019-20 it is felt that this is a deliverable project utilising an existing school site within the Wellsway Multi Academy Trust. The project meets the Council's requirements for SEND provision within the area and the required timescales. The project meets the priorities of the SEND Education Strategy and Action Plan 2018-2021.