Statutory Proposal to Expand Mayfield Special School and to relocate Mayfield College

1.            
that Mayfield College relocate to MyPlace, Paignton from 1 September 2025; and

2.             
that Mayfield Special increase its admission number from 165 to 190
from 1 September 2025.

The Local Authority
(LA) has a statutory duty to provide provision for all children
from its planning area, if there is a shortfall it will need to
place those children in costly out of area placements.  These placements would not only have long term
cost implications for the Council but would also mean that young
vulnerable children with complex needs would have to endure longer
journeys to school daily and not have the opportunity to establish
connections within their local community.

If the proposals are
not implemented the there is a significant risk that the LA will
not have sufficient specialist places for this September to meet
demand.

There are no
alternatives options as Mayfield is the only school in Torbay which
offers the specialist places that are needed.  An Equality Impact Assessment has been completed
and is attached to this Record of Decision.

Background papers
relating to the Cabinet’s previous decision on Outcomes on
the Proposal for a Locality Model for Special Educational Needs in
Torbay: Improving Support for Special Educational Needs and
Disability (SEND) can be found at
Agenda for Cabinet on Thursday, 23 January 2025, 5.30 pm

This decision will
come into force immediately.

At the Cabinet meeting
held on 23 January 2025, the Cabinet considered a report on
Outcomes on the Proposal for a Locality Model for Special
Educational Needs in Torbay: Improving Support for Special
Educational Needs and Disability (SEND).  Part of their decision was to instruct the
Director of Children’s Services to co-produce a Service Level
Agreement with People’s Parkfield and Mayfield College, which
ensures that Mayfield College can be a long-term tenant on the site
(ensuring financially sustainability for the building), whilst key
groups in the community such as Electively Home Educated families,
Youth Services, care experienced and cared for children and other
disadvantaged young people, can be provided for in this newly run
community model.  This work has now been
completed and relevant statutory consultations have been undertaken
and signed off by the Director of Children’s Services.

The Local Authority
(LA) has a statutory duty to ensure that it has sufficient school
places to meet demand.  The LA is
expecting there to be a shortfall in places for young children with
complex needs from September 2025.

To address this
shortfall the LA needs to expand Mayfield Special School; however,
the school site has already been developed and utilised as much as
it physically can be.  The proposal,
therefore, is to relocate the school’s College provision to
MyPlace, this will enable the College
to admit more students from the main school site, freeing up
existing accommodation to enable the school to increase its
admission number.

These linked proposals
will result in additional specialist places being made available to
ensure the LA can fulfil its statutory duty.

The proposed
implementation date is from 1 September 2025.