Debate contribution: Special Educational Needs Provision: North Antrim

Debate contribution by Mr Paul Givan on 19 November 2024.

MLA

Mr Paul Givan

Party at the time

Democratic Unionist Party

Date

19 November 2024

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Adjournment

Heading

Special Educational Needs Provision: North Antrim

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4666474

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I thank Mr Crawford for securing the debate and for speaking to these important issues. I join Mr Gaston in commending Mr Crawford and paying tribute to his volunteering work and particular interest in this area. I thank all Members for their contributions to the debate, and I will just lay out some of my responses to those. Since I was appointed, this has been one of the main areas that I have been focused on in what I can do to improve the lives of all children and young people. I have prioritised better support for special educational needs — Members have recognised that — to make sure that we are aligning with the Executive priorities in the draft Programme for Government. Mr Frew highlighted some of the issues that we are trying to resolve. I have visited a number of schools to which he invited me and schools that other MLAs asked me to visit. However, some of the most impactful visits that I have had were to special schools. While I have witnessed the impact of specialist provision in mainstream schools, special schools are exactly what they say: they are special and unique but they are very challenging environments. Sian Mulholland, a Member for North Antrim, mentioned the issues around health support and therapies. I have witnessed the benefit of speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and nurses being available in special schools. That highlights the necessity of other Departments and trusts working with the Department of Education and the Education Authority to meet the need. It is a concern that I have about the withdrawal of services. That is why, shortly, I will meet the Minister of Health and some principals of special schools to discuss why that change is happening. I agree with the Member when she says that being in the school setting and then receiving additional medical support is critical. Why take a child out of school when you can treat their needs in school? There are increasing medical complexities for young people in special schools. Mr Frew spoke of the concern that many principals have about not having the expertise. We look to other Departments and the trusts to support us in that. By September of this year, we had created over 1,450 new places. They were established to meet the needs for specialist placements, yet the picture for September 2025 and beyond remains very challenging. The statutory annual review for children and young people, with the statements of special educational needs process, has recently commenced. That will inform the EA's planning assumptions for September next year. Strategic area planning that is in line with the projected need will be key to ensuring that there is sufficient special education provision for future years, and the Education Authority is working on an operational plan that prioritises special education. The Department recently carried out a survey across all mainstream schools, seeking their views so that it could understand their readiness to establish specialist provision. Mr McGuigan asked questions about schools in North Antrim in particular and what we are doing to support them. I can confirm that 49 schools in North Antrim responded to that recent survey. I am pleased to say that 23 of them indicated a willingness to establish new or further provision for September 2025 and beyond. The Department and the Education Authority will work with schools in North Antrim and other localities on the creation of specialist provision in order to meet future demand across all areas. I appreciate the Member's commitment to securing sufficient special education provision in North Antrim. The EA has identified that as an area that has pressure for additional places both in special schools and specialist provision in mainstream schools. A number of Members mentioned Castle Tower School. I assure the Member, and all Members, that I recognise the challenges that are in North Antrim. I commend Castle Tower and the wider special school sector for their daily work in supporting our children and young people with the most complex of special educational and medical needs. That goes alongside the mainstream, where colleagues have embraced the opportunity to establish specialist provision to reflect the growing and changing needs in their local community. The Education Authority works closely with sectoral partners and schools to build capacity into the entire system for the future, and it has been asked to submit proposals for any required extension of special schools. That will now be taken forward under the school enhancement programme. Members will remember the statement that I made in the House on the new capital strategy for special educational needs, which is a 10-year strategy. In that, I commissioned EA to do the work of finding out what provision we can enhance for every single special school in Northern Ireland and whether they require school enhancement programmes. As well as identifying where eight new schools need to be located in Northern Ireland over the next 10 years, we commissioned that piece of work, and EA will provide an update to me on that shortly. The end-to-end review of special educational needs has now concluded, and I will shortly set out my reform agenda for special educational needs and disabilities. I assure Members that that is a delivery plan, not another review. I am clear on that. We need a delivery plan, not more review. Included in that will be a clear plan for the delivery of transformation across the education system in order to ensure that all children with special educational needs and disabilities have access to high-quality education through the delivery of the right support from the right people at the right time and, importantly, in the right place. That will mean significantly reforming our approach to how we support children, young people and their families. At a recent event, a parent asked, "Who is preparing the community for my child?" We must take a whole-child, family, school and community approach in order to ensure that we improve outcomes for our most vulnerable children. Working closely with colleagues across the Executive, local government and the voluntary and community sector, we will tackle those issues. Education cannot do that alone. Provision is not just about how we support our children but about where they go to school. Our schools need to be those vibrant hubs that are welcoming and safe places for children so that their well-being and learning can be promoted. It is clear that the school estate has suffered through a lack of investment and planning, and my statement to the Assembly in April indicated the biggest change to capital planning in a generation. I committed then to an ambitious, far-reaching, long-term plan that will require sustained and increased capital investment of around half a billion pounds over the next decade to rebuild and reconfigure the school estate across Northern Ireland in order to ensure that every child and young person is happy, learning and succeeding in their educational journey.

It is a priority that planning for special educational needs provision progress to a stronger strategic footing to ensure that the growing numbers of learners with special educational needs have timely access to appropriate education placements that meet their need. The strategic approach that I have set out will consolidate around my special educational needs and disabilities reform agenda and delivery plan. That will set in train a process to deliver and secure a better future for all our children with special educational needs and disabilities across Northern Ireland. Our schools are leading the way in supporting and making provision for our children and young people and their families. I am immensely proud of the work that goes on in our schools. Every Member who spoke highlighted the excellence that they have witnessed when they have visited schools. As Minister, I am keen to support the reform that our families and schools have been calling for. I know that Members will continue to advocate for their constituents and, rightly, hold me to account as I seek to deliver on the reform agenda and support our young people.

1,357 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 11:38 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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