We asked for your views on proposals to close Westfield Special School sixth form. 16 June - 24 September 2021. This consultation is closed. Statements and consultation responses are available.

Statement from Herefordshire Council 22 June 2022

Children and Young People's Directorate response to the consultation on the proposal to close Westfield Special School Sixth Form

Thank you to everyone who has taken part in the Westfield Special School sixth form closure consultation. We apologise that this process has taken some time but this is due to the importance of the decision and its impact on the local community.

After consideration of all the responses to the consultation, Herefordshire Council proposes that Westfield School sixth form in Leominster remains open.

It is proposed that a new state-of-the art school (subject to full Council agreement) will be built to replace Westfield School with flexible space to provide a small sixth form base. However, as the new Beacon College in Hereford offers a full range of facilities and has sufficient places to accommodate SEND students aged 16 plus, we would want students to be able to consider the full range of options available.

In shaping these revised proposals the council has carefully considered all of the consultation feedback, the impact on children and young people with SEND in the county and the Herefordshire community as a whole. The council has also considered the best use of financial investment and the number of pupils who would benefit from the recommendations.

We ask our partners at Westfield School and the Beacon College to continue to work co-operatively to ensure places are prioritised for pupils at Westfield sixth form who are least able to travel to the Beacon College, or where there is a clear case that the benefits of a pupil’s travel to Beacon College would be limited as a result of the severity of their disability. We aim to ensure that the young people with learning difficulties are able to access and benefit from the extensive provision and high level of educational support offered by the Beacon College, wherever they live in the county.

17 February 2022 - Update on council's previous proposal for the future of Westfield Special School sixth form

On 16 June 2021 Herefordshire Council launched a public consultation on the proposal to consider the closure of the Westfield Special School Sixth Form facility.

The consultation was initially planned to run for five weeks (one week in excess of the four week consultation period advised in the DfE guidance) ending on 20 July 2021. At the request of Westfield School, the council extended the consultation period until 24 September 2021.

The usual mechanism for response to consultation used for council purposes is an online questionnaire, but when concern was raised by the school as to the restricted accessibility of this mechanism for parents, carers and pupils at the school, it was agreed that responses in the following formats would be accepted and considered:

To open accessibility to comment on proposals as wide as possible, it was agreed with Westfield School that responses in the following formats were accepted and would be considered as part of the consultation, in addition to the online questionnaire:

  • Public petition
  • Student responses on accessible forms designed by the school
  • Views expressed and recorded in three public meetings convened by the Assistant Director and
  • Verbal opinions expressed by sixth form students at the school

View consultation responses to original closure proposal

 

All of the feedback received during the consultation has been carefully and thoroughly considered by the council. 

It was evident from the responses that there was a strong level of feeling against the proposed closure of the sixth form. In light of the views expressed the council is currently developing an alternative proposal. It is recognised that this closure consultation has been a difficult and emotive topic and the council would like to once again like to thank everyone that took the time to respond to the consultation and provide us with your views. A significant amount of work has already taken place and this will continue to help develop a build proposal to improve the facilities at the school in the coming years. 

Once the sixth form proposals have been fully resolved, the council will take this work forward at pace. This will culminate in a council decision on whether to agree to rebuild the school and if so, in what format.

A feasibility study is already under way to explore the options for improvements to Westfield School and the costs. This feasibility study will help the council’s Cabinet to decide whether funding is available for the improvement works and how best to proceed.

We will continue to share the updates on the progress of the Westfield School proposals with all interested parties.

8 December 2021 - Statement from Herefordshire Council

We are extremely grateful to the Westfield School community and the members of the public who have taken the time to give us their views on the proposed closure of Westfield’s sixth form. 

We have carefully considered all of the responses from the consultation and a modified proposal has been drafted. This proposal aims to retain some sixth form provision in Leominster, while allowing students living in the north of Herefordshire to have access to the full range of opportunities available to other students with similar needs living in other parts of the county. 

We are currently in discussions with our legal team regarding the next steps that need to be followed. As soon as we have clarification, full details of the proposal will be shared with the school community and the wider public.

We acknowledge that the consultation process has taken some time. This is due to the importance of the decision and its impact on the local community.

Consultation

Herefordshire Local Authority proposes the closure of the sixth form phase at Westfield Special School in Leominster.

The proposed closure, subject to the outcome of this consultation, would mean that the last intake of sixth form pupils to Westfield School would be in September 2021. All pupils attending the sixth form at that point would be able to remain at Westfield School to complete their sixth form years if they chose, but no new pupils would join after that time.

Beyond the start of the 2021-2022 school year, the local authority proposes to commission all sixth form places for young people with severe, complex, multiple and profound learning difficulties at a new specialist sixth form college in Hereford city, called the Beacon College.

Read the full details of the proposal to close the sixth form at Westfield Special School

Watch the recordings from the public meetings

Consultation documents

The following documents all provide background for and references to the proposal. They form part of the statutory proposal and were available to view before completing the consultation questionnaire.

We asked for your views

The consultation was open to all to comment. The closing date for comments was 5pm Friday 24 September 2021.

The proposal process

The steps in the proposal process are as follows:

  • A five week public consultation on the proposal to close the Westfield Sixth Form, ending on 20 July 2021 -  this was extended to 24 September 2021.
  • Opportunity for interested parties to join a virtual meeting Chaired by the Assistant Director for Education, Development and Skills, to ask any further questions about the proposal that they may have
  • After the end of the consultation period, time for the local authority to consider the consultation responses.
  • A decision on whether or not to proceed with the proposal to close the sixth form. The decision to be taken in accordance with council decision-making arrangements.
  • Publication of the decision, with feedback on the consultation process and content
  • Local Authority dialogue with the school about the decision and any necessary next steps, dependent on the nature of the decision.

Details of the proposal

Herefordshire Local Authority proposes the closure of the sixth form phase at Westfield Special School.

This proposal is to make a significant change (also called a prescribed alteration) and is subject to statutory consultation. Herefordshire Council, as the local authority is following the statutory guidance on consultation given in the Department for Education government document.

The school and the local authority that the proposal relates to

  • The school that the proposal relates to is Westfield Special School, Ryelands Road, Leominster, Herefordshire, HR6 8NZ.
  • The local authority that maintains the school is Herefordshire Council

The proposed closure, subject to the outcome of this consultation, would mean that the last intake of sixth form pupils to Westfield School would be in September 2021. All pupils attending the sixth form at that point would be able to remain at Westfield School to complete their sixth form years if they chose, but no new pupils would join after that time.

Beyond the start of the 2021-2022 school year, the local authority proposes to commission all sixth form places for young people with severe, complex, multiple and profound learning difficulties at a new specialist sixth form college in Hereford City, called the Beacon College. The opportunity to build the new college arose in 2017, when the local authority made a successful bid to the Department for Education for the funding. To find out more about the Beacon College please e-mail susan.woodrow@herefordshire.gov.uk

The Beacon College opens in September 2021, and will be run by the Accordia Academies Trust (formerly Barrs Court Trust). The only other sixth form that provides the same educational offer for this type of need and age group in Herefordshire is currently Barrs Court Hub on Symonds St in Hereford. As an Academy Trust, Accordia Academies Trust will be running their own consultation on the future of the Barrs Court sixth form.

Westfield Special School currently offers young people between the age of 16 and 19 with severe, complex, multiple and profound learning difficulties a sixth form education at Westfield school. In recent years, the school has had approximately 12 pupils within its sixth form phase across the three year groups (Year 12, 13 and 14).

It is anticipated that within three years of opening, Beacon College will offer sixth form education to approximately 60 students with these specialist needs. Herefordshire Local Authority has forecast the potential need for specialist places within this type of SEN and age group in the future: the new college has been built to be able to provide sufficient places for all young people in Herefordshire requiring a specialist sixth form place, including those few pupils who may wish to attend from neighbouring counties. In the long term, should numbers increase again, there is adequate space on the new site for the college to expand further.

Objectives

The objectives of the proposal to close Westfield Sixth Form are to:

  • Ensure that all young people with an education, health and care plan (EHCP) for severe, complex, multiple and profound learning difficulties have equal access to the same standard of high quality, ‘state of the art’ educational facilities that are commensurate with, or better than, other educational settings in the county
  • Ensure that the curriculum offered is broad, and to ensure that pupils have the widest possible choice of courses including the opportunity to access some learning at the other 16-19 colleges, if appropriate, which will be adjacent to the new Beacon College in Hereford
  • Enable young people with these types of specialist need to socialise and mix with a much wider group of their peers as they move towards adulthood, in a similar way to other young people joining a college for their sixth form education
  • Enable young people with these types of specialist need to take up a broad range of opportunities, including wider work experiences and internships across the county, including, if they wish, in their home community
  • Provide a central sixth form that supports equitable travel time and distances for all post-16 learners with these types of specialist need in Herefordshire
  • Ensure that each educational setting can operate in a cost effective way by having a narrower age-range to focus on

Staffing

The proposal may mean a staffing adjustment for Westfield School. The local authority will ensure that it works with Westfield School’s leadership team to support any unavoidable cost implications arising from the proposal if it is implemented.

Long term value for money and stability

Long term value for money and stability will be achieved for Westfield School by:

  • Taking forward the Westfield School capital project listed as top priority in Herefordshire Council's SEND capital investment strategy, recently agreed by Cabinet.

This project is currently being explored to determine feasibility and options and will then involve submission of a business case for capital investment to Herefordshire Council that would result in a completely new build for Westfield in Leominster or a rebuilding of the current Westfield accommodation. This will allow an increase to the number of pupils aged 2-16 that Westfield School can accommodate, thus supporting the school’s longer-term financial stability. The project would also seek to provide sufficient site space for the proposed new accommodation to be increased if demand for special school places continues to rise.

Further information

If you have questions or would like more information please contact: susan.woodrow@herefordshire.gov.uk

Published: 16th June 2021