Headteacher warns against putting a price on SEND

The head of an independent school which accepts Dudley special needs pupils has warned against putting a price on education.

Dudley Council’s children’s services is facing increasing demand for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services and rising costs are squeezing already strained council budgets.

The council’s SEND and AP Sufficiency Strategy for 2024 to 2031 said the authority had 296 SEND pupils in independent schools in June 2024, costing £15.8m per year while council-run provision for 1,068 SEND pupils at the same time cost £14.1m per year.

The authority plans to cut costs by bringing more pupils back into its services, rather than paying independent schools.

But Lawrence Collins, headteacher at Heathfield Knoll School in Wolverley, Worcestershire, sounded a note of caution.

Mr Collins said: “It is very difficult to put a price on someone’s education. If you start to think of children as numbers what you lose is what we hope the education system is about, which is developing young people – the quality of outcomes will suffer.”

Heathfield Knoll works with several local authorities and takes around ten pupils a year from Dudley at a cost of approximately £50,000 per year per pupil.

The school provides a teacher and a teaching assistant for every six pupils plus a range of other services and therapies in a purpose-built centre called Connect.

Mr Collins said: “We started from ‘what do children need’, not what we can get away with or what is the cheapest solution.

“What we do would be difficult to replicate elsewhere. The council chooses to send their children here – they come to us with their requirements.”

Heathfield Knoll’s assistant headteacher, Jane Cain, added: “If they choose us that means others are unable to meet the need, we are providing something that is not available elsewhere.”

Councils are legally required to provide an education that meets SEND pupil’s needs.

Mr Collins said: “It always comes back to the right setting for the right child, if you fail you cannot get that time back.”

Dudley plans to cut its use of independent placements with a number of measures including using vacant council-owned buildings to provide SEND facilities.

The team at Heathfield Knoll highlight their state-of-the-art Connect centre’s facilities which provide a low sensory environment for pupils with anxiety issues who cannot cope in mainstream schools.

Staff say the environment is vital for successful learning and question whether the council’s plan for vacant buildings will bring economies.

Mrs Cain said: “Using empty buildings won’t necessarily be low cost to adapt.”

Mr Collins added: “You have got to look at the bigger picture and think about outcomes.

“Is this being driven by education or budget? I am not a politician but I know, from an educational need, we need to deliver the very best.

“If our children were to go somewhere else it would either not be the right setting or it would be a higher price tag.

“Unless you understand SEND you will have an inherent bias in how you interpret numbers at face value.”