Conservatives at Surrey County Council have been making significant progress in improving Special Educational Needs and Disabilities education across the County, with a £217million capital budget funding our plan to expand to 5,760 place capacity by 2028.
Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, 43 completed schools’ construction projects delivered accommodation for 1,058 additional built places at a cost of £71m, a 28% increase in capacity.
There is still more to do, but this progress helps SEND children and especially families, and in the long run it also helps the taxpayer. This is because it reduced the number of journeys to SEND schools outside Surrey the County Council has to pay for by boosting local provision.
Taylor O'Driscoll, Prospective Conservative County Council candidate for Dorking Hills says, "As a former student of an SEND school myself, the progress being made by Surrey County Council to improve provision is extremely positive. There's certainly more that can be done to increase capacity particularly in eastern Surrey. However, the news of new schools being completed in Epsom and Redhill is fantastic for families. And the fact our improvement plan is a role model for other counties is also something to be celebrated, and much improved on my experience from school days."
Marisa Heath, Conservative Parliamentary Spokesperson for Dorking and Horley says, "We know that ensuring timely and appropriate SEND provision has been hugely challenging and I think it was right that we addressed our past failures and came up with an improvement plan backed with the funding to make a real difference. We are now very much heading in the right direction whilst many other counties are still struggling and have not turned things around. Having a county councillor like Taylor O'Driscoll would make a huge difference in helping us go even further and getting every detail in both the children and parent's journey to a good education and the right support."
With Labour’s independent schools tax potentially shifting more SEND children into state schools, and the Lib Dems belying their posturing by allowing a much-needed planned SEND school in Dorking to fall unchallenged on appeal, the Conservatives are the only party with a laser focus on improving provision and outcomes for SEND children.
