More than 230 new specialist school places created for Surrey’s children with additional needs and disabilities

Surrey County Council is pleased to announce the creation of 230 new specialist school places for September 2023 for Surrey’s children with additional needs and disabilities.  

The creation of additional school places has been carried out through the successful delivery of 40 construction projects in schools across Surrey. The building projects included the expansion of existing specialist schools and existing Special Educational Needs (SEN) Units in mainstream schools, the construction of new specialist free schools, and the creation of new SEN Units in mainstream schools.  

These projects are a part of Surrey County Council’s £260m Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Capital Programme investment to improve the long-term sufficiency of state-maintained specialist educational provision across Surrey, and in turn the experiences of Surrey children. The Council is committed to ensuring that children and young people who have additional needs and disabilities (AND) and require a specialist school placement can have their education needs met closer to home and within state-maintained provision wherever possible. The creation of these new specialist school places will support the Council in delivering this commitment, providing more Surrey young people with additional needs and disabilities with the opportunity to be educated within their own local community.  

Surrey County Council’s ambitious Capital Programme aims to deliver 2,440 permanent additional specialist school places in Surrey between 2019 – 2026 to create capacity for 5,760 planned places by 2030/31. 

Clare Curran, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning said: “The location of these new school places means that Surrey families will have high quality specialist school provision close to where they are, which enables children and young people with additional needs and disabilities to achieve healthy, independent, and fulfilling lives. 

“These additional places are part of the Council’s committed investment to increase Surrey’s estate to 5,760 places overall by 2030 to improve the long-term sufficiency of state-maintained specialist educational provision that meets the needs of communities across the county now and in the future.” 

As of the 2023/24 academic year, accommodation for around 917 new specialist school places has been delivered across Surrey at a cost of £41m since the beginning of the programme. As a result of this investment, the planned phasing of places and growth plans agreed with individual schools and Trusts, and where additional places have been commissioned to meet additional local needs, Surrey’s state-maintained specialist education estate has been increased from around 3,320 in 2019 – when the Capital Programme started – to around 4,237 places now.  

The programme remains on track to complete the remaining 7 projects planned for 2023/24 in the Spring term. 

The next phase of Capital delivery in 2024/25 consists of major and medium new build extensions of existing specialist schools which are already in contract, a new specialist free school for autistic children, and two new secondary age SEN Units in mainstream schools for autistic children. Along with the phasing in of additional places from projects delivered in previous years, the programme will create approximately 240 new specialist school places for September 2024. Additional places from these schemes will become available between 2025-2028 in line with growth plans agreed with individual schools. This is because schools need to build their staffing capacity to support the new places.  

ENDS 

ADDITIONAL ANNOUNCEMENT INFORMATION 

A map showing the geographical location of all of Surrey’s state-maintained specialist schools, SEN Units in mainstream schools and alternative provision schools in Surrey’s state-maintained specialist education estate from September 2023 to July 2024 (c4,210 places). 

A map showing the geographical location of the 40 construction projects delivered under SCC’s Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Capital Programme between 2019-2023. These projects have expanded Surrey’s state-maintained specialist education estate to around 4,210 places. 

Almost 150 new Specialist School places as of September 2023 

School	Type	Need Type	District / Borough	Surrey Quadrant
Fox Grove School	Specialist School	Complex Autism and co-occurring needs	Mole Valley	South East
Philip Southcote School	Specialist School and Satellite Sites	Moderate Learning Difficulties and co-occurring needs	Runnymede Surrey Heath Epsom & Ewell	North West  North East
West Hill Academy	Specialist School	Moderate Learning Difficulties and co-occurring needs	Mole Valley	South East
Freemantles School	Specialist School and Satellite Site	Complex Autism and co-occurring needs	Woking	North West
Matthew Arnold School	Specialist School  (final year of temporary expansion arrangements)	Autism/ Communication and Interaction Needs	Elmbridge	North East
The Abbey School	Specialist School	Moderate Learning Difficulties and co-occurring needs	Waverley	South West
Woodfield School	Specialist School and Satellite Site	Moderate Learning Difficulties and co-occurring needs	Reigate & Banstead	South East
Manor Mead School	Specialist School Satellite site	Severe Learning Difficulties/ Complex Autism and co-occurring needs	Runnymede	North West

85 new Mainstream SEN Unit places available as of September 2023 

School	Type	Need Type	District / Borough	Surrey Quadrant
Chandlers Field School	Mainstream SEN Unit	Autism/ Communication and Interaction Needs	Elmbridge	North East
Epsom Primary and Nursery School	Mainstream SEN Unit	Autism/ Communication and Interaction Needs	Epsom & Ewell	North East
Stepgates Community School	Mainstream SEN Unit	Speech, Language and Communication Needs	Runnymede	North West
Dovers Green School	Mainstream SEN Unit	Autism/ Communication and Interaction Needs	Reigate & Banstead	South East
St Matthews C of E Primary School	Mainstream SEN Unit	Autism/ Communication and Interaction Needs	Reigate & Banstead	South East
Woking High School	Mainstream SEN Unit	Visual Impairment Needs	Woking	North West
Epsom Downs Primary School	Mainstream SEN Unit	Autism/ Communication and Interaction Needs	Reigate & Banstead	South East
Brooklands College	Further Education SEN Unit	Autism/ Communication and Interaction Needs	Elmbridge	North East
Hythe Primary School	Mainstream SEN Unit	Autism/ Communication and Interaction Needs	Runnymede	North West
Ashford Park Primary School	Mainstream SEN Unit	Autism/ Communication and Interaction Needs	Spelthorne	North East
Meadhurst Primary School	Mainstream SEN Unit	Autism/ Communication and Interaction Needs	Spelthorne	North East