Overnight residential provision at a school in Lichfield for children with special education needs is to be continued under new plans announced by Staffordshire County Council.
There had been fears that Saxon Hill Academy’s Sleepover Club, which sees youngsters stay at the school in specialist accommodation once a week, would be axed after the authority announced a review of the cost of delivering such services at five schools across the county.
Local councillors campaigned against any proposed changes, describing the sleepover scheme as a “lifeline” for pupils and their families, while the school also wrote to MPs in a bid to save the provision from the axe.
Staffordshire County Council has now confirmed that new proposals will see the service extended for two years until the summer of 2026.
Cllr Jonathan Price, Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet member for education and SEND, said:
“This is a non-statutory service which costs the council £1.8million a year so it’s only right that we regularly review it and check that we, parents and, above all, the children get the right service.
“When we approached parents, carers and the schools about this, we said we did so with an open mind and that we wanted them to engage with us and tell us how and why they valued the service.
“We received a great deal of feedback and I thank everyone involved for their time, energy and enthusiasm and that’s why I wanted them to know as soon as possible that I will be recommending to colleagues that the contract be extended.”
Cllr Jonathan Price, Staffordshire County Council
The overnight service delivered at the five schools in Staffordshire are not considered as formal respite care and do not form of any Education Health and Care Plan for pupils, with the county council classifying them as additional provision rather than an integral part of education.
Cllr Price said:
“The schools have been very passionate about this provision.
“I think the challenge for them is to broaden access so as many eligible children as possible can benefit from it – and that is an issue we will be discussing with them in the coming months.”
Cllr Jonathan Price, Staffordshire County Council
