Redcastle Family School in Thetford, Norfolk, has more places for children with SEND
A school in Thetford will see the number of places for children with special needs increase.
Redcastle Family School, in St Martin's Way, is now home to a Specialist Hub of Inclusive Practice (SHIP), which operates within the existing Specialist Resource Base (SRB) in the mainstream primary school.
As part of Norfolk County Council’s Local First Inclusion (LFI) programme, the number of places there for children with SEND is planned to increase from the initial cohort of three children to 16 children, over this and the next academic year.
Across Norfolk, 76 extra spaces for children with SEND are being created in infant, junior and high schools as part of this programme.
Cllr Penny Carpenter, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “Increasing education provision for children with SEND is incredibly welcome news.
“SHIPs have been introduced to the SRB family of provisions across Norfolk mainstream schools to provide children who have co-occurring special educational needs with an enhanced offer of support and a personalised, child-centred approach to learning and development.
“We are committed to providing access to education so that all children in Norfolk can flourish, and this new provision is evidence of just that.”
Redcastle is a newly-opened SHIP.
Cllr Carpenter added: “SHIPs are an exciting new expansion which further honour our commitment to create more specialist places under our LFI programme.
“I am excited to see our families and children benefit from the leadership and expertise of the schools delivering this important part of our SEND local offer.”
The £100 million LFI programme pledges to deliver hundreds of new specialist education places across Norfolk.
It also aims to provide significantly more advice, support, and funding for mainstream schools to support inclusion with the 15 new school and community support teams that were introduced in September 2023, to give early help and support to both parents and schools.
