Rising numbers of children needing more help at school

SCHOOL leaders have been told of rising numbers of children needing more help at school, leading to a predicted £34m overspend in the next three years if nothing is done.

- By GARETH LIGHTFOOT Local democracy reporter

Stockton has the highest number in the North East of children being assessed for education, health and care plans (EHCPs), which describe children's educational needs and support.

The town has the highest demand, with “far more requests” for EHCPs than any other council regionally and numbers of such plans expected to pass 3,000 in two years.

Education bosses are also struggling to find places for children moving into the town with EHCPs and hundreds of children are being educated in expensive independent schools out of the area.

Stockton Council is planning to expand its facilities for children with social, emotional and mental health needs to meet a “significant gap”.

It says it is avoiding £3m costs a year by opening new additionally resourced provision (ARP) and special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) units, currently attended by 51 children, though no secondary schools have yet signed up to run SEND units.

Elisha Dyball, Stockton Council’s strategic lead for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) practice, said they had a projected overspend of £4.6m in government grant funding for schools this year.