Change to the age range of The Willows Short Stay School

Should the age range at the Willows be changed so that only primary pupils are accommodated at the provision from 1 January 2016? The change of age range means that the statutory provision for primary aged pupils continues but the non-statutory provision for secondary pupils will close. This will make significant annual savings to the High Needs Block funding that can be used towards statutory provision.

A consultation period started on 6 May 2015 and concluded on 20 May 2015. A public meeting was held at the school on 13 May 2015 and approximately 20 people attended. It was originally proposed to issue Statutory Notices on 21 May 2015. Due to the number of responses received it was agreed to defer the issue of Statutory Notices to analyse the outcomes and themes and consider these against alternative arrangements for pupils. This information was fully considered and it was then decided to proceed with the issuing of Statutory Notices which were published on 15 June 2015. This has allowed a further 4 week period for representations regarding the proposal to be made. Nearly all respondents provided additional commentary. The feedback received can be broadly grouped into the following four categories: lack of alternative appropriate provision; vulnerability of the service users; grounds of decision and timing of the proposal; gender of service users. The Statutory Notice period of four weeks ran from 15 June 2015 and generated two further responses to the proposal.

The Cabinet Member has given approval of the Statutory Notice, and the proposal to change the age range of the WIllows to a primary only provision will be implemented.