At the Department for Education, we want every family to have a good school close at hand, and to give parents greater choice over their child’s education.
This is why I am delighted that for the first time, more than nine in 10 new school places created since 2010, in both primary and secondary schools are in “good” or “outstanding” schools as judged by Ofsted.
We are achieving this by creating new schools where they are needed most and helping all good schools to grow - whether they are comprehensives, academies, faith schools or grammar schools.
Since 2010, free schools have been leading the way, innovating in education and creating choice for parents. We also have specialist maths schools run by some of our top universities creating the mathematicians of tomorrow - including from some of our country’s most disadvantaged families.
We are establishing special free schools. These create places for families with children who have learning needs, such as autism, or those who need specialist mental health support.
Creating SEND school places
Beyond just creating new schools, we want to help good schools that are already popular to expand. This includes both special schools and mainstream schools with a strong track record in supporting pupils with additional needs.
Today we are announcing an additional £50 million in funding to improve facilities and build more school places for children with special educational needs. This funding will enable schools to build more specialist facilities for children with SEND. This can include new sensory rooms and bespoke playgrounds, as well as expanding provision where there is local demand.
This fund is in addition to a further £680 million to support councils across the country to create 40,000 new school places, together with a number of new school buildings. This builds for general educational provision on the 825,000 new places the government has created since 2010.
Schools have been getting steadily better. Thanks to the hard work of teachers and our reforms, we now have 1.9 million more children in “good” or “outstanding” schools than in 2010.
Children only get one chance at an education. I’m determined to make sure they get the best education possible.
Lord Agnew is a minister for education
