Decision details

To deliver a Primary School Resource Base to accommodate children and young people with SEND. Resource Bases are for children and young people with special educational needs and an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) who will attend mainstream school and receive additional specialist support at a resource base. The resource base will accommodate up 10–12 primary pupils with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs, all of whom will have an EHCP. This provision directly supports the B&NES SEND Sufficiency Strategy, as set out in the SEND Education Strategy and Action Plan 2021-2024, thus reducing reliance on high cost out of area or bespoke mainstream packages and strengthening local inclusion.

To fully approve £415k capital budget, funded in full by High Needs Provision Capital Allocation Grant (HNPCA).

• Value engineering was undertaken, but reductions were limited due to the mandated requirement for specialist needs of the provision.
• Remaining options such as relocation, redesign, demobilisation were deemed non viable due to cost, planning, and programme impacts.
• Continuing with a modular design as was explored but rejected due to planning constraints, therefore not an option.