West Sussex County Council is inviting people to share their views on proposals to expand Oak Grove College that would provide much needed additional special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) school places in the county.
Oak Grove College is a Special School in Worthing which provides education to children and young people with varying degrees of additional needs between the ages of 11 and 19. The current proposals involve using The Pines, a former adult education centre owned by the council located about a mile away from Oak Grove College, to increase the school’s student capacity by up to 60 places. West Sussex, along with many other counties, has seen a significant rise in the demand for SEND provision in recent years, with the number of education and health care plans (EHCPs) being processed increasing year on year. While most children and young people with EHCPs can be supported in a mainstream school setting, there are some who require the additional support of a special school. The council’s proposals to expand Oak Grove College aim to help ease the pressure on special school places locally.
Residents now have the opportunity to share their views on the proposals via an online consultation, which will run until 25 May 2025.
Councillor Jacquie Russell, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Learning and Skills, said: “The proposals to expand Oak Grove Collage present an important opportunity for us to bolster our SEND offer in the Worthing area, providing additional school places at a time where the need for SEND support continues to grow.
“The majority of children and young people with EHCPs are able to attend mainstream schools, but special schools play a key role in our SEND education provision. The creation of additional places at Oak Grove College will help more children and young people be able to attend school locally, reducing the need for us to use independent and non-maintained special schools, which can be costly.
“Using The Pines to achieve this would make the best use of resources already available to us, just a short distance from the main school site.
“We face huge challenges in managing the ever-growing demands on our SEND services, but these proposals demonstrate the proactive steps we are taking in finding solutions to these challenges to help ensure that all children and young people can achieve their full potential.”
