School gets 500k to expand special needs places

Half-a-million pounds will be used to expand a Wolverhampton school's special educational needs and disabilities (Send) service.

The city council will spend the £500,000 on Springdale Primary School in Penn.

Under the plans, the schools existing scheme for pupils with speech, language and communication needs would be cut from 34 places to 18 and a new 20-place unit created from September.

The new unit would be in a "modest" extension and money would also be spent on new sensory equipment for an immersive room, a sensory light room, soft play and sensory outdoor space, a council spokesperson said.

In a letter explaining the new Send unit, Graham Tate, chief executive of Lykos Multi-Academy Trust, which runs the school, said: "These improvements will benefit not only pupils within the unit and learning resource base but also many of our mainstream children.

"We currently have a range of sensory spaces that support children with Send, but some of these areas are dated and certain equipment is no longer functioning."

The demand for specialist school places in Wolverhampton has increased - the number of pupils with an education, health and care plans has risen by more than 50% in the last five years, from 2,185 in 2021 to 3,352 in 2026.

Autism spectrum disorder, speech, language and communication, and social, emotional and mental health are the most common needs, with all seeing year-on-year increases.

Speech, language and communication demand rose from 714 children in February 2025 to 809 at the same this year, council figures showed.

The authority said this need was increasing faster than places could be created, and they were forced to place children in independent provision in Wolverhampton as well as outside the city.

The average cost per child per year is about £76,000, they added.

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