There’s good news for parents and children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) this week, as the County Council has today progressed plans for an extra 116 special needs school places across south Hampshire.

This comes alongside a further 327 new SEND places progressed across the county since January last year – a total of 443 over the past 14 months. It’s in response to growing demand for specialist provision both locally and nationally, with more than 20,700 children in Hampshire alone who now have an Education, Health and Care Plan – the legal document which sets out the extra support a child requires to meet their specific needs.

The latest places agreed today were approved by Councillor Steve Forster, Cabinet Member for Education, and include four new Resourced Provisions which are specialist environments based within mainstream schools. These are set to open in phases from September 2026 in the following schools:

• Crofton Anne Dale Junior School, Fareham – 12 additional places for children aged 7-11 with autism

• Poulner Junior School, New Forest – 12 additional places for children aged 7-11 with autism

• Hamble Primary School, Eastleigh – 12 additional places for children aged 4-11 with autism

• Stanmore Primary School, Winchester – 10 additional places for children aged 4-11 with social, emotional and mental health needs

Councillor Forster commented: “We’ve seen some excellent momentum over the past year and are continuing to keep our foot to the floor, as we work towards our goal of at least 1,000 new SEND places by 2030. This includes a strong focus on making our mainstream schools more inclusive, so that more children with SEND can have their needs met in their local communities, alongside children they already know well. While this has been our clear approach in Hampshire for some time, this also aligns closely with the plans the Government recently set out in its proposed SEND reforms, announced last month.

“I also want to acknowledge that while the places I have agreed today are in the south of Hampshire, we have done extensive work to progress new provisions in the north of the county including, most recently, Harrow Way Community School in Andover.”

In addition, Councillor Forster approved a total spend of £2.36 million for the work required to create the new provisions. This investment will be used to refurbish existing space in each school to form new classrooms, calm rooms, small group and therapy rooms, and enclosed outdoor play areas. The new provisions will be based in the main school buildings except for Hamble Primary School, which will use an existing modular building. This work is subject to planning consent, with decisions expected in May this year.

Finally, Councillor Forster also approved a 70-place expansion of The Waterloo School, a special school in Havant, using the former Peel Common Infant School site in Gosport. It follows the recent closure of the infant school to create an all-through primary based in what was previously Peel Common Junior School. The project responds to the growing number of children with social, emotional and mental health needs in the Gosport borough, which currently has no special schools.

He added: “These are a significant number of new SEND places in an area where many children are currently needing to travel miles from home or to attend costly independent schools due to a lack of local provision. I therefore fully support this move and am particularly pleased that we can make this investment using an existing building in our estate, realising welcome carbon savings in the process.”

It comes as Councillor Forster agreed to consult on a second project also using a former infant school site, in Lymington.

Visit the County Council’s website for full details of all the projects progressed today.