Consultation Document
School organisation proposals to temporarily remove residential provision at Welburn Hall Special School for the academic years 2023-24 and 2024-25
Welburn Hall School
December 2022
This paper sets out school organisation proposals by North Yorkshire County Council to temporarily remove residential provision at Welburn Hall School, Welburn, Kirbymoorside
It follows a review of provision and consultation carried out under the Children and Families Act 2014.
This paper gives the background to the proposals. There will be virtual (on-line) public meetings on Tuesday January 10th, 2023, and Wednesday January 18th, 2023at 6 pm via Microsoft Teams. If you wish to be part of this virtual meeting could you please let us know by emailing schoolorganisation@northyorks.gov.uk and joining instructions will be provided.
Background
North Yorkshire County Council wants all children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in North Yorkshire:
- to have the best educational opportunities so that they achieve the best outcomes
- to be able to attend a school or provision locally, as close to their home as possible, where they can make friends and be part of their local community
- to make progress with learning, have good social and emotional health, and to prepare them for a fulfilling adult life
The County Council has a statutory responsibility under the Children and Families Act 2014 to keep its special educational provision under review, to ensure sufficiency in placements to meet the needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). Under the same act, the County Council also has responsibility for ensuring that the needs of children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) are suitably assessed and that needs are met.
We have reviewed recently the residential provision at Welburn Hall and following consultation had determined that there was an ongoing need for residential provision, but that access to that provision would in future be via more specific criteria
However, recent technical assessments have identified significant structural challenges in the main House building, which provides the residential accommodation, catering facilities and some teaching and learning space. These challenges relate to the heating and drainage systems at the school. The local authority is planning on the basis that a programme of urgent works to address buildings failure will need to be put in place from Summer 2023, with the unfortunate consequence that the main house building will be out of operation for an expected period of two academic years. We would want to emphasise that our assessment is that the school buildings remain a safe environment for young people to both be educated and reside in the interim.
In the light of the latest technical assessments, the implications for the main house and our concern that we provide clarity at the earliest opportunity to families and school staff, we are consulting at this stage on the potential temporary removal of residential provision at Welburn Hall school.
We appreciate that this is an unexpected development want to emphasise that it is a response to an emergency scenario. We will work closely with colleagues at Welburn Hall school as well as young people and their families to ensure any impact on those accessing the provision is minimised.
Day places will continue to be provided at Welburn Hall in a separate building while these urgent reactive maintenance works are being carried out to the main house.
The school organisation proposals
The County Council is now consulting specifically on the school organisation proposals required to:
Remove residential provision at Welburn Hall School from 1 September 2023, on a temporary basis for a two year period.
Your views on these school organisation proposals are welcomed.
What is this consultation about?
This consultation is about our proposal to temporarily pause the residential offer at Welburn Hall School.
Under these proposals, residential provision would be unavailable at Welburn Hall school for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years - Why do we need to pause the residential offer at Welburn Hall School?
As discussed above, this proposal is a direct consequence of the significant structural failings we have identified in the heating and drainage systems at the school. These impact most significantly upon the House building. Furthermore, the proposals are solely a response to these building challenges – without these challenges, residential provision would be continuing to operate at the school.
Given that we are currently working on the basis of undertaking an urgent reactive maintenance programme over a period of two academic years, we are specifically proposing to pause the residential offer for two years
Whilst the vast majority of young people currently accessing residential provision at Welburn Hall will naturally leave in July 2023 due to their age, we recognise that a small number of pupils will have been expecting to access residential provision until July 2024. The council’s SEN Case Work Team have made contact with those families affected and will be providing support to assess all available provision options to continue to meet their assessed needs.
What Happens Next?
Your views about these proposals are welcomed. You can either complete and return the attached response sheet, or submit an online response.
Paper responses should be returned to North Yorkshire County Council at the address below:
FREEPOST RTKE-RKAY-CUJS
Welburn Hall Strategic Planning
North Yorkshire County Council
County Hall
NORTHALLERTON
DL7 8AE
Online responses may be submitted by following this link:
https://consult.northyorks.gov.uk/snapwebhost/s.asp?k=164914933309
The closing date for responses is 31st January 2023
All responses to the consultation received by this date will be considered by the County Council’s Executive committee on 14 February 2023.
If the County Council’s Executive decides to proceed, then statutory proposals would be published on 22 February, 2023 on the County Council’s website and statutory notices placed in the local press and on the school gates. These statutory proposals would provide a further four weeks for representations to be made. A final decision would then be made in November by the County Council’s Executive (or by the Executive Member for Education, Learning and Skills, if there are no objections to statutory proposals).
Anticipated key dates
All dates are subject to approvals at each stage.
|
Consultation opens |
3 January 2023 |
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Public meetings |
10 and 18 January 2023 |
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Consultation closes |
31 January 2023 |
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County Council’s Executive considers consultation response |
14th February 2023 |
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Statutory Proposals published (4 weeks for representations to be made) |
22 February – 22 March 2023 |
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Final decision by County Council’s Executive (or the Executive Member for Education and Skills, if there are no objections to the statutory proposals) |
18 April 2023 |
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Implementation |
From 1 September 2023 |