Increasing specialist provision and school places in Hertfordshire

We know there is a need to create more provision in Hertfordshire so that our children and young people with SEND have the right education in the right place, at the right time.

Since September 2018, we have increased the capacity in our special schools by 842 places but we know that the need for new places continues to rise. We are investing over £137m to ensure we have the right provision in the county to meet the future needs of all our pupils with SEND in Hertfordshire.

As part of our special school place planning strategy, we’re aiming to deliver around 1,000 additional specialist provision places by 2026, through new special school places and the development of a countywide pattern of specialist resource provisions for children with communication needs in mainstream schools.

Special School Place Planning Strategy (PDF 4.7mb)

Meeting the immediate demand for Special School places
Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD)
Learning Difficulties (LD)
Communication and autism needs (C and A) - special schools and specialist resource provision (SRP)
Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)
Physical and Neurological Impairment (PNI)
Alternative Provision for children at risk of exclusion

Meeting the immediate demand for Special School places

We have lots of long term projects to increase special school places, but we know we also need to find suitable education options much faster for the children who are already waiting for one. We are continuing to work with our family of special schools, specialist and alternative provision and mainstream schools to find solutions for this.

To meet the immediate demand, we have increased the number of places available at every school, in each sector. In the last year we have increased special school places by 191, including at Larwood School, Southfield, and Lonsdale. The number of places created in existing schools will increase further from January 2025.

Find out more about our plans for creating extra special school places.

How does allocation of new places work?

Because there are children in Hertfordshire currently waiting for a special school place, it means that when we create new places, they are often already assigned to a child, and not available straight away through an admissions process.

If your child is identified as needing a specialist place

This can be frustrating when new places are spoken for, but when your child is identified as needing specialist provision at a provision panel, an Officer will work with you to identify a suitable education option for your child, and you will be in line to receive a place as soon as something is ready.

If you need to discuss suitable education options whilst a place becomes available, you can discuss this first with your SENDCo in case they can advise. You can also speak to your EHC Coordinator.

If your child does not have an EHCP, and you feel that their needs will be better met at a special school, you can find out more about this process on our 'requesting a place at a special school' webpage.

Severe Learning Difficulties (SLD)

One of our main priorities is to deliver new local SLD places. To make sure that we can meet the future demand in Hertfordshire, we will be creating 270 new places (including 31 PNI places), with first delivery in 2024.

While those 270 new places are being created, a small number of extra places have been made at certain schools, along with a full replacement of the hydrotherapy pool at Watling View. From September 2022 we created 7 extra places at Greenside School, with a further 16 being created in a new satellite school from January 2025. We created 7 at Watling View and 14 at Amwell View (4 in September 24 and a further 10 from January 25).

Public consultations on proposals to enlarge Amwell View School, Stanstead Abbotts, by up to 32 places from September 2025 and 100 places from January 2028, via satellite provision, were also recently approved by Jo Fisher, Hertfordshire County Council’s Executive Director of Children’s Services.

We are committing a large amount of capital investment to relocate and enlarge Breakspeare School to a brand new purpose-built location in Croxley Green, which will fully meet the needs of both existing and new children in the west of the county. This proposal has been approved by Cabinet and will increase the capacity of the school by 130 places. Planning permission has now been received and the new accommodation is planned to be available in the 2025/26 academic year. In the interim, councillors approved plans to enlarge Breakspeare School by 48 places from February 2024. These places are based at Holywell Primary School in Watford whilst the new accommodation in Croxley Green is being built.

A smaller number of severe learning difficulties places have also been created from September 2023, at a satellite of Breakspeare School at nearby Meadow Wood Special School in Bushey.

In addition, plans are under way for a new 100 place SLD special school in Buntingford to meet the needs of pupils in the east of the county. The earliest this school would open would be in the 2027 academic year. In the longer term, another new SLD school could be delivered in the north of the county if needed.

Find out more about how these places are allocated.

Learning Difficulties (LD)

In this sector, we have created 262 additional places since 2018.

We're very excited about the £15.8m rebuild of The Valley Special School in Stevenage. The new building is now complete and opened its doors to more than 175 students in January 2024.

The expansions of Southfield and Colnbrook schools have been approved and delivered a further 20 new places at each school in April 2024.

Cabinet is also considering the outcome of a public consultation on the proposal to enlarge The Collett School, Hemel Hempstead, by 50 places from January 2026, for children aged 4 – 16 years with Learning Difficulties.

Find out more about how these places are allocated.

Communication and autism needs (C and A) - special schools and specialist resource provision (SRP)

We are delivering 2 new special schools for children with communication and autism needs and the development of a countywide pattern of specialist resource provision attached to mainstream schools which will form part of our graduated response for children with communication and autism needs (C and A).

The graduated response will be a clear offer for children with communication and autism needs and will be supported through a range of suitable and appropriate provision in the county including:

support in mainstream schools
new specialist resource provision for children with communication and autism needs in mainstream schools
2 new Communication and Autism special schools creating 120 additional places. One of these, The James Marks Academy, opened in September 2023, initially taking 20 students. These numbers increased to 45 in September 2024 when they moved into the new building, and will increase to 60 the following year. Read more about the James Marks Academy.
Working with the Agora Learning Trust, we will be opening a primary school ('Journeys Academy') in Potters Bar. We are in the process of preparing the planning application, and subject to approvals, this school will have a phased opening from September 2025 - initally with 36 places, rising to 60 places the following year. Find out more about how these places are allocated.
Roman Fields special school for children with a higher level of need.

Children may move up and down this 'ladder' of graduated provision as their needs change.

Development of specialist resource provision (SRP)

Over recent years we have identified a gap in provision for an increasing number of children who have a speech, language or communication need and/or autism who find the mainstream school environment overwhelming. In the past these young people have often ended up in special school, when they should have been better supported to access a mainstream curriculum instead.

Children and young people with developmental language disorder and severe motor speech disorders continue to need access to the mainstream curriculum, delivered in a modified and visually supported environment.

This has led to our proposal to develop SRPs for the children and young people with social communication difficulties in addition to the children and young people with speech and language disorders. The SRPs will be centres attached to secondary and primary mainstream settings across Hertfordshire. Pupils attending the SRPs will have access to a mainstream curriculum, but the stress of a mainstream environment will be reduced and pupils will feel they have a safe space to be in where their needs are met. The staff and teachers at the SRPs will be trained to support the children and young people's emotional wellbeing and self-regulation. As children in the SRPs gain confidence and independence, the aim is that they will spend an increasing amount of time within mainstream lessons, alongside their peers and with access to the wider variety of opportunities available to them there.

Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH)

For this sector, we have created an additional 4 places at Batchwood, 15 places at Larwood School, and 7 places at Hailey Hall. These additional places have all been filled.

We have also opened a new Primary Support Base at Warren Dell school, with up to 12 places.

Working with our SEMH schools, we're exploring other options for increasing capacity in this sector and creating additional places.
Find out more about how places in special schools are allocated.

Physical and Neurological Impairment (PNI)

We have expanded the provision at Lonsdale School to create 20 additional places for the 24/25 academic year. This has been achieved by formally closing residential accommodation, which has been unused since March 2020, and converting it to teaching areas.

The school has enhanced its preparing for adulthood offer for all pupils at the school with dedicated 'preparing for adulthood' areas in the vacated residential spaces. By making preparing for adulthood part of the school’s core curriculum, it hopes to help all pupils gain vital skills to help them become independent.

Alternative Provision for children at risk of exclusion

The Education Support Centres offer alternative provision for children and young people who have been excluded, or are at risk of exclusion. 'Education Support Centre' is the term Hertfordshire use for 'Pupil Referral Unit'.

In 2024 we opened a new primary support base at Warren Dell school. This is an in-reach service to support pupils who are at risk of exclusion, with up to 12 places.

In 2025/26 we will rebuild the North Herts ESC creating an additional 16 places (which will accommodate young people from years 9 and 10). The new accommodation will be built on the Letchworth site so that all 40 pupils can be accommodated in the brand new purpose-built provision.

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