Teaching support for Barnsley SEND pupils gets £600k boost
An extra £600,000 a year is to be spent by a council on employing more staff to work with pupils who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with visual and hearing impairments.According to a report to Barnsley Council's cabinet, a hearing support team of three specialist teachers and one support worker currently helped a total of 222 children.Meanwhile, the vision support team consisted of three teachers and one support worker helping 137 children, including 23 who were blind.The report said the new funding would pay for more specialist staff for those children, and would also pay for extra staff to support SEND children at risk of exclusion from school.
Specialist teachers and support workers already help children in mainstream schools, but there has been an increase in SEND pupils and some have complex needs.The report stated there had been a "steady growth" in the number of children requiring British Sign Language, and those children had "the highest level of complexity"."There may not be a high number of children with these needs, but they do require highly specialist support," it said."If support was not made available locally, more children may be required to attend specialist provision out of the borough."
'Additional curriculum'
According to the report to go before Barnsley Council's cabinet later this month: "All these children require specialist support.""Children with high needs who are in a mainstream setting require access to an additional curriculum, for example touch typing, visual stimulation and Braille," it said."For children who require support to enhance their independence, including independent travel and living skills, the caseload is currently 91 children, with one specialist and no support workers."Fifteen of those children are cane or pre-cane users, and 16 require the highest packages of support."The report said that four new hearing and vision support workers would be employed by the authority at an annual cost of £173,548.In addition to that, £426,322 would be spent on employing 11 SEND teachers and support workers.Those workers would help SEND children who were at risk of being excluded from school, the report said.Currently two specialist teachers had a caseload of more than 200 pupils.The council said keeping children in mainstream schools benefited them, but it was also cheaper as the average cost of a special school place was £70,000.Barnsley Council's cabinet is expected to discuss the report's findings at a meeting on 28 May.
Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
40 minutes ago
- BBC News
Lancaster Pride: Hundreds attend city centre parade
Hundreds of people have turned out for the Lancaster Pride parade through the charity Out in the Bay, which organises the event, said it had seen an increase in homophobic comments directed at this year's Mee, from the group, told BBC Radio Lancashire: "We seem to be the victims of hate along with some other groups of people who it's easy to attack and I think it's so sad."More than ever, we need pride, protest but we also need allyship." Local organisations and members of the emergency services also attended the from the Lancashire rugby union club Typhoons, said: "To see a place like Lancaster - a bit of a smaller city - have so many people come out in support means the world to us."He added that it helped "people who are really struggling at the moment". Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Five Lincolnshire primary schools to get hubs to help SEND pupils
Plans for hubs to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) at five primary schools across Lincolnshire have been centres will provide a learning environment for pupils with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) while still remaining within the mainstream school County Council said said there had been a "significant" rise in demand for SEND places across the Oliver, executive member for children's services, said the hubs were "an incredibly important and necessary step forward in improving the lives of children and their families". The hubs will be based at Gonerby Hill Foot Church of England Primary School in Grantham, The Meadows Primary School in Lincoln, St George's Church of England Primary School in Gainsborough, Caistor Church of England and Methodist Primary School and Church Lane Primary School in a council meeting on Friday where the plans were approved, it was heard the hubs will cost more than £7m and were being funded by the Department for McMorrow, the council's programme manager for the SEND and inclusion team, said special schools were oversubscribed despite an additional 527 pupil places over the last four years. The meeting was told that Lincolnshire had significantly more students with SEND than the national average, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Martin Smith, assistant director of children's education, said that nationally 4.2% of children have an EHCP, compared to 4.9% of children in councillor Stephen Roe said: "This has given a fantastic opportunity for some of our young people to not have to travel so far to get the education they need but also to get them involved in mainstream education which is very important."I have friends with children who have gone through mainstream school who probably wouldn't have normally and it has enhanced their opportunities."Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
Our ‘disastrous' newbuild estate is getting MORE homes despite being unfinished for 5 years & cut off by two landslides
A DISASTROUS newbuild estate is set to get more homes despite being unfinished for five years and cut off by two landslides. Local residents have been left fuming at developers plans in the West Midlands with some still cut off from their homes. 3 3 3 Homeowners say their £400,000 properties have been "plagued by problems" since moving into the Cradley Heath area of the Black Country. Some have been cut off from their homes for more than six months after two separate landslides blocked roads last March and just before Christmas. Around a dozen residents of Haden Cross Drive still can't park on their driveways with earth and rubble fell just feet from their front doors. Others have reported the area "unsafe" as well as other issues including streetlights not working and problems with the sewers. Locals are shocked that Dunedin Homes wants to build six new homes nearby as the existing area remains unfinished and "looks like a building site". Matthew McSwiggan moved into Farmhouse Close three years ago and demands the current issues are addressed before any new plans are considered. He said that locals had "reached breaking point" and building new homes"would be nothing short of a disaster". "Dunedin have overpromised and underdelivered," Matthew said. "It would be nothing short of a disaster for new homes to be built at this stage. "We've been left living on an unsafe and unfinished site for almost four years. "We still have no street lighting, which led to my elderly mother tripping. "Only last week were our driveways and paths finally tarmacked, after years of chasing the developer. "It has caused much anxiety and anger for residents, which would get worse if more homes were built. "We have been luckier than those in Haden Cross Drive, but we have all been left fearful for our homes." Engineer Reece Aleksander, 33, lives with his wife Georgia and their baby and says residents feel abandoned on the estate, fearing the problems will never be resolved. He said: "We can't believe they have had the audacity to submit these plans. "Surely fix the problems that exist here first, there has been a lot of objections and protests. "They want to build it on a road at the top of the bank where the landslide happened and a lot of people think this is unsafe. "When I step outside my house we've still got this big mound of dirt to look at, it's a nightmare. "Even going up onto my lawn I can still see this big mound of dirt. "I literally said to my wife that I hate living here. "We bought a newbuild under the impression that there wouldn't be any issues, maybe a few snags. "But instead I'm having to deal with this - it's just become an absolute joke." Another local resident added that the plans were a "disgrace" and developers were "thinking about lining their pockets". The developer behind the 53-home estate, Dunedin Homes, wants to add six new houses to the development on a patch of land at the rear of the site. They would be three-and-four-bed homes on a new cul-de-sac around 150 metres away from Haden Cross Drive. The ground above homes in Haden Cross Drive began to slip last year after a wall gave way and now a huge mound blocks the road to the cul-de-sac. John Tipper, a Green Party Councillor for the Cradley Heath area, said: "The developers have not remedied initial issues raised by residents with the estate currently, and it defies belief that they would now apply to build more homes. "The landslip was not the first issue, and the residents have been left living in conditions they shouldn't have to tolerate. "I think the plan is outrageous." The developer says it has undertaken works in Farmhouse Close this month. This includes the final topping of tarmac on all footpaths and driveways, replacing damaged kerbs to all dwellings and plans to get streetlights working again soon. However, they deny any issues with sewage and drainage on the estate. A spokesperson for Dunedin Homes said: "Any outstanding works will be completed as demonstrated on Farmhouse Close earlier this month. "Sadly, the landslide has prevented the final works on and around Haden Cross Drive, but the new engineers and investigations are almost complete, which will soon allow Haden Cross Drive to re-open and the street lighting to be energised. "There are no issues with drainage or sewage."
