A briefing session for families and young people has been held to discuss plans to create more specialist education provision for Dorset.
Thank you to families and young people who attended the online session, if you missed i you can watch both sessions below:
A detailed transcript of all the questions and answers will also be available online shortly.
The briefing included details of Dorset Council’s five-year £37.5m plan to create more provision for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities.
The ambitious new plan will create new facilities at main stream schools, such as special bases to support children and young people, as well as expanding provision at Dorset’s existing excellent special schools and creating new schools with fantastic facilities.
Cllr Andrew Parry, Dorset Council Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Early Help, said: “Thank you to families and young people who came to these sessions and shared their thoughts and experiences. We want to continue working together on our shared ambition to make Dorset the best place for all children to grow-up and will hold more sessions soon.
“In Dorset we want children and young people included in mainstream settings, with the right support, wherever possible. Our plans for a new school and centre of excellence in Shaftesbury are only one part of a far wider ranging plan.”
Dorset Parent Carer Council Steering Group said: “We would like to extend our thanks to Theresa and the team. Providing an opportunity for parents and carers to hear directly from them about the plans they have in place to improve services, and the chance to ask questions, was well received.”
The panel included Theresa Leavy, Dorset Council Executive Director for People – Children, Vik Verma (Director of Education from June 2021), Kath Saunders, Head of Locality & Strategy, Miriam Leigh, Principal Educational Psychologist and Cllr Andrew Parry, Dorset Council Portfolio Holder for Children, Education and Early Help.
If you would like to keep up to date with plans to improve specialist education in Dorset please sign-up for the newsletter about Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). It is co-produced jointly by the Dorset Parent Carer Council, Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group and Dorset Council and is full of other useful information.
