A consultation is now under way on proposals affecting two special schools in Huddersfield.
And Kirklees education officials have urged the public to have their say on the changes before the consultation ends on July 22.
The proposals involve changing the specialism at Longley School and adding places at Lydgate School, which could also be relocated.
It is part of a long-term review of specialist provision in Kirklees, ensuring it can best meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs. There is a changing pattern of demand for special school places in south Kirklees, including a growth in the number of children and young people with autism. The proposals are designed to put the provision where it is needed most and to ensure high-quality learning environments.
Longley School currently provides places for children with autism and places for children with complex needs
The proposal for Longley - which is based at Dog Kennel Bank, Huddersfield – is to change its specialism so that it becomes a school only for pupils with autism. There would be 80 places.
Eventually Longley would stop providing places for children with complex needs, but this would happen over a long period of time so that no pupils or families were disadvantaged in any way.
The proposals for Lydgate School are to increase the number of places and to relocate the school from New Mill to Almondbury.
If the changes went ahead, there would be 164 places, all for pupils with complex needs.
A recent Cabinet report said there was a need to relocate Lydgate as its current facilities are not well suited to its pupils.
The council has examined a number of potential sites and the best opportunity to create high-quality specialist provision for complex needs would be to use a site at Southfield Road, Almondbury.
The site is currently part of Almondbury Community School, but earlier this year a decision was made to redesign education in Almondbury. As a result, the site will eventually become vacant.
When the council has an empty school site, its first priority is to re-use it for education purposes. Therefore, under the special school proposals, Lydgate would move to Southfield Road once the building and surrounding site had been specially adapted to provide high quality facilities for pupils with complex needs.
Full details are available at www.kirklees.gov.uk/schoolorganisation
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