Read our SEND Capital Strategy 2020 to 2025 to provide the best education for Dorset children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
We've secured £37.5m for the next 5 years to help deliver our aim to provide the best education for Dorset children and young people with SEND. We've set this out in our Children's Plan.
How we're planning to improve SEND provision
The plans in our SEND Capital Strategy include:
- creating new special schools with fantastic facilities
- expanding high quality provision at Dorset's existing special schools
- developing new facilities at many mainstream schools such as special bases
Our SEND Capital Strategy will also help reduce some costs in the longer term. Currently some children and young people with SEND have to be sent away for educational provision, sometimes far from home. This is because there's not enough specialist provision available in Dorset.
Costs of providing SEND education
Independent provision costs around £60,000 a year per child. High quality provision at one of Dorset's own special schools costs around £22,000 a year per child.
Currently more than 250 Dorset children and young people have to attend independent provision at a cost of around £14 million a year.
More need for SEND provision
We've developed these ambitious plans because the need for more SEND provision is growing fast.
There were 1,500 children and young people with an education, health and care (EHC) plan in Dorset in 2015. By 2020 this number had almost doubled to nearly 3,000.