Plans to expand Denewood Academy to create more spaces for children who have been permanently excluded have emerged.
Nottingham City Council said it is currently spending in excess of £12 million each year educating children who have been permanently excluded.
More than half of all children permanently excluded have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and the rising costs needed to tackle the issue is largely because there are not enough adequate spaces available to meet the demand.
Mainstream schools cannot meet the increasing complexity of needs of children, the council claims, and special schools do not have enough space.
This means children are being placed in expensive specialist schools outside Nottingham city, with transport to their school costing significant sums, too.
To counter this, the city council said it is looking to expand Denewood Academy, which is maintained by the Raleigh Education Trust.
Under new plans, which are set to be approved at a meeting of senior councillors on Tuesday (June 16), a satellite school will open on the site of the former Aspley Community Training Centre.
All of the primary aged children currently educated at Denewood Academy on Forest Road West will be moved to the new school building, freeing up capacity for 30 more children up to the age of 16 to be educated on the main site.
“This proposal will see a reduction of 30 children being placed in unregistered alternative provision, because they will now be able to attend Denewood Academy, which will save £600,000,” council documents outline.
“The average annual cost for an alternative provision placement is £37,200, compared to £17,000 for a placement at Denewood Academy.
“It will also increase the number of places available for permanently excluded children in an Ofsted registered school.”
The council says the Raleigh Education Trust was identified as the only provider able to quickly create 30 places for children in Nottingham, owing to the fact the trust already runs two alternative provision academies for permanently excluded children in the city.
According to the documents, special schools and support units are completely full, and now 217 children are waiting for a place.
In total, £1,707,053 will be spent on the expansion plans, split between up to £1,657,053 to be paid to the trust for the delivery of the works and up to £50,000 to cover associated professional costs incurred by the council.
It is also subject to approval from the Department for Education.
It is expected this new site will open in the autumn term this year.
