Pencalenick School

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Withdrawal of discretionary funding for SEN residential provision at Pencalenick School

Cornwall Council is responsible for ensuring the funding available for the education of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in Cornwall meets the needs identified in their Education Health and Care (EHC) Plans.

We currently have over 4000 children with EHC plans and this is increasing daily. Our SEND Transformation Strategy is focused on supporting mainstream schools to accommodate children where possible but there is an increasing need for SEN education day places which we are currently not able to meet.

Cornwall Council is currently funding the Special Schools Partnership Trust (SPT) £563,000 per year for SEN residential provision at their residential boarding facilities at Pencalenick School, which is a discretionary provision.

Overnight boarding can reduce the need for pupils to travel, provide respite to parents and guardians, and support pupils to learn skills for independent living. Whilst overnight boarding can benefit pupils and their parents/guardians, use of the boarding facilities has been declining and the number of pupils using the service is low. None of the pupils using the boarding facility have an identified need for residential provision in their EHC plan.

The boarding facilities at Pencalenick House are provided through discretionary funding from the Council and the Council considers it appropriate for that funding to be directed to SEN education day places. We have to ensure funding reflects the special education required to meet current and forecast need, and continuing to fund overnight provision therefore no longer presents value for money.

What are we proposing?

Cornwall Council is proposing to no longer fund SEN residential provision at Pencalenick and reallocate the funding to enable the creation of additional specialist SEN education day places where there is need in Cornwall to help meet the growing need for these places.

We fully appreciate the benefit this service at Pencalenick School has brought to the families who use it and the hard work and dedication of the staff who run it. Cornwall Council has therefore asked SPT to commence a consultation with pupils, parents and guardians about the proposal to cease the boarding provision.

Before we make any decisions, we will take into account the feedback we receive through our consultation and, to the extent it is appropriate to do so, the results of SPTs consultation.

If the proposals are approved, it is anticipated that the boarding facility at Pencalenick School would close at the end of the current academic year. The proposals are not expected to adversely impact on SEN education day provision at Pencalenick.

People were invited to provide feedback about these proposals by completing our consultation questionnaire by 5pm on 10 June 2024.

The consultation has now ended. Feedback is being analysed and will be reported in due course.

Withdrawal of discretionary funding for SEN residential provision at Pencalenick School

Cornwall Council is responsible for ensuring the funding available for the education of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in Cornwall meets the needs identified in their Education Health and Care (EHC) Plans.

We currently have over 4000 children with EHC plans and this is increasing daily. Our SEND Transformation Strategy is focused on supporting mainstream schools to accommodate children where possible but there is an increasing need for SEN education day places which we are currently not able to meet.

Cornwall Council is currently funding the Special Schools Partnership Trust (SPT) £563,000 per year for SEN residential provision at their residential boarding facilities at Pencalenick School, which is a discretionary provision.

Overnight boarding can reduce the need for pupils to travel, provide respite to parents and guardians, and support pupils to learn skills for independent living. Whilst overnight boarding can benefit pupils and their parents/guardians, use of the boarding facilities has been declining and the number of pupils using the service is low. None of the pupils using the boarding facility have an identified need for residential provision in their EHC plan.

The boarding facilities at Pencalenick House are provided through discretionary funding from the Council and the Council considers it appropriate for that funding to be directed to SEN education day places. We have to ensure funding reflects the special education required to meet current and forecast need, and continuing to fund overnight provision therefore no longer presents value for money.

What are we proposing?

Cornwall Council is proposing to no longer fund SEN residential provision at Pencalenick and reallocate the funding to enable the creation of additional specialist SEN education day places where there is need in Cornwall to help meet the growing need for these places.

We fully appreciate the benefit this service at Pencalenick School has brought to the families who use it and the hard work and dedication of the staff who run it. Cornwall Council has therefore asked SPT to commence a consultation with pupils, parents and guardians about the proposal to cease the boarding provision.

Before we make any decisions, we will take into account the feedback we receive through our consultation and, to the extent it is appropriate to do so, the results of SPTs consultation.

If the proposals are approved, it is anticipated that the boarding facility at Pencalenick School would close at the end of the current academic year. The proposals are not expected to adversely impact on SEN education day provision at Pencalenick.

People were invited to provide feedback about these proposals by completing our consultation questionnaire by 5pm on 10 June 2024.

The consultation has now ended. Feedback is being analysed and will be reported in due course.

  • CLOSED: This survey has concluded.

    Consultation questionnaire

    Please complete our short survey to give your views on our proposals to end funding for SEN residential provision at Pencalenick School. This survey will close at 5 pm on 10/06/2024.

    Privacy Notice 

    We will use the information you provide to help inform decisions about the future funding of SEN education in Cornwall.

    The Data Controller for the information you provide in this survey is Cornwall Council, New County Hall, Treyew Road, Truro TR1 3AY. Data Protection Registration Number: Z1745294. Once the survey has closed, your data will be held within Cornwall Council’s secure network and premises for up to 2 years. Where we ask you to supply personal data on this form, we will only make access to this data available to authorised members of staff who are required to process it for the purposes outlined in this privacy notice. Please note that other information you provide, such as responses to open questions, may be published in full.



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Page last updated: 11 Jun 2024, 09:37 AM