SEND Free School Pre-application consultation

Overview

As set out in the recent special educational needs and disabillties (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) green paper, the government has set out plans to build 60 new centrally-delivered special and AP free schools across the country. This is part of plans to provide children and young people with good quality provision in their local area, reduce the time and money spent on transport and the use of more expensive provision.

Local Authorities are invited to bid for up to 2 new special schools. Following a recent review of our SEND forecasts, Birmingham City Council have asked for special dispensation to bid for 3 given the demand we are experiencing and expecting to continue.

We propose that the 3 schools should be made up of 2 Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC) designated 3-19 schools of 400 places each and 1 Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)/ASC designated 14-19 school with 120 places. One ASC school would be located in the north, the other in the south of the city. The SEMH/ASC school would be located as near to the city centre as possible.

We are looking to consult interested parties before submitting applications with this consultation running from 8 September to 5 October 2022.   For more information on our proposals please see the attached document called "SEND Freeschool preapplication for stakeholders v1".  

Why your views matter

Your views are important to us and we appreciate the time you are taking to respond.

What happens next

All responses from this initial consultation will be considered by Birmingham City Council. If it is considered appropriate to proceed, we will submit the individual bids to the DfE by their deadline.

When we receive a decision on any of the applications, we will publish them on this webpage.

This is not the final consultation. Should we be successful, we will consult further with stakeholders to develop some of the detail around each school. Please also be assured that relevant planning consultations would also be required should plans progess.