The £10m purchase of St Mary’s School near Shaftesbury by Dorset Council is planned to be a major step towards accommodating the growing number of children with special educational needs and disability.

There are 3,000 SEND children in Dorset, double the number of six years ago. Existing school places are so rare that 250 children are now sent to schools out of the county. In 2015, the number was just 100.
Dorset Council laid out the statistics in launching a public consultation on their plans for St Mary’s.

While being welcome to all suggestions, it is clear the council sees the provision of SEND places as its priority. 
Project director Vik Verna said that each child sent out of county is a £60,000 annual cost to the council, a total of £14m a year, compared with £22,000 for a child educated in Dorset.

On top of that is the personal cost to families, separated by distance from their children, who have to spend more time and money to visit. Dorset Council chief executive Matt Prosser said the decision to buy St Mary’s was to make provision for SEND pupils and reduce revenue costs.

“Building a new school would be five or six times the cost of buying St Mary’s,” he said, “but even St Mary’s wouldn’t cover all our requirements now. It won’t create 280 spaces straight away but it could reduce pressures on existing schools.”

On paper, the money saved by not having to send children elsewhere in the country could cover the cost of buying St Mary’s within 18 months. But it will take some time to properly evaluate how best to utilise the buildings and 54 acres of St Mary’s, and how the site could also be used for other purposes, such as for respite care or start-up businesses.

“There would be other options and they will become more obvious to us with time,” said Theresa Levy, executive director for children.
She pointed out that some boarding houses and teaching blocks are separate from other buildings. Allowing community use of the pool and tennis courts could also be re-instated but she added: “We don’t to have a situation where the children are excluded. We are making sure everything we do is best value for Dorset residents.”

Have your say: Dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/st-marys-survey.
The consultation lasts until March 18.

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