Agenda item

Jane Seymour presented the report on the high needs places and arrangements 2015/16 for information.

In 2014/15 there are 666 funded places in special schools, primary and secondary school resource units, mainstream post 16, alternative provision and further education of which 640 places are currently filled.

The EFA will base 2015/16 on 2014/15 and any extra places must be applied for as an exception and are unlikely to be agreed if:

·         The total number of additional places is less than 5% of the 2014/15 place allocation (33 places).

·         If an institution that has more than 50 places the increase is less than 10%.

·         If an institution of less than 50 places the increase are less than 5 additional places.

The deadline for exception requests to reach the EFA is 17^th October 2014.

Additional places will be required for the new Secondary ASD Resource due to open in September 2015 and for the West Berkshire Training Consortium. The Primary ASD Resource is now likely to open in September 2016. It is likely that the additional places will not meet the 10% criteria and no additional funding will be received in which case place numbers across the settings will need to be reviewed.

Action