Consultation launched for plans to overhaul specialist teaching facilities

Richard Youle, local democracy reporter

A planned overhaul of nearly 40 specialist teaching facilities is going out for consultation.

Swansea Council wants them to be more effectively spread throughout the county, thereby reducing journey times for pupils and better matching current and future demand with supply.

The aim is also to provide more places, including Welsh language ones, and create a smoother transition for learners from primary to secondary education.

The council has separate plans to amalgamate Swansea’s two special schools – Ysgol Crug Glas and Ysgol Pen-Y-Bryn – into a new large one by the Ysgol Pen-Y-Bryn site in Morriston.

Investment

Introducing the specialist teaching facility proposals at a cabinet meeting, Cllr Robert Smith, who has the education portfolio, said: “This of course needs to be seen within the context of the other investment we are making in terms of meeting the needs of children with additional learning needs. The plan for the special school is going to be a huge step forward for us in Swansea and so will the changes to the STFs (specialist teaching facilities).”

The cabinet report said most pupils with additional learning needs attended mainstream schools. Around 600 others with more severe and complex needs are educated in 38 specialist teaching facilities at 31 primary and secondary schools.

Re-designate

The plan is to re-designate the majority of them, open five new ones, expand four of them, change the specialism of three, and close five. The changes, if approved, would create an extra 61 places, although the report said places at specialist facilities were reviewed annually.

“Over the past five years the number of learners with additional learning needs has risen, driving an increasing demand for specialist teaching facility places in Swansea, data indicates this increasing trend is likely to continue and there have also been changes to the type of need requiring provision,” said the report.

It acknowledged long waits for autism assessments, and said the proposal was to remove the requirement to have a formal assessment or diagnosis as a criteria for entry to a specialist teaching facility.

The planned changes would come into force in phases from September 2025, with no upheaval for current pupils, and add just over £1 million per year to the annual schools budget.

The five specialist teaching facilities which would close would be at Olchfa comprehensive and Morriston and Grange primaries, from September 2025, Crwys primary from September 2028 and Birchgrove comprehensive from September 2029. However, the report said new types of provision would be available at Olchfa and Grange, and that some provision would remain at Birchgrove at Morriston.

Council leader Rob Stewart said: “This is the start of a process where we consult on what we potentially could move to. The schools estates and the needs and the aspirations have not remained static, we need therefore to make sure the STFs remain the best we can deliver and provide the best locations for the children who need them.”