A mainstream school in Southampton is providing places for children with special educational needs and disabilities to help address the city’s specialist schools being at capacity.

The resourced provision at Cantell School in Bassett was formally approved by members of Southampton City Council’s cabinet.

The school’s leaders have accepted a cohort of 10 year seven pupils who would have attended the SEN provision at Great Oaks School if there was space.

Cabinet member for children and learning Cllr Alex Winning thanked Cantell School headteacher Harry Kutt and his team for their “ongoing willingness and continuous support” offered to children in Southampton.

“Special schools are at capacity, so with that in mind one avenue to address that is to look at specialist resource within mainstream settings,” Cllr Winning said.

“There are numerous examples of that in various schools across the city and they are successful.

“Not only does it secure the right level of educational support for those children that require it but it also aids inclusivity and takes away some pressure from schools such as Great Oaks.”

The children in the cohort, who have moderate learning difficulties and associated speech, language and communication needs and, or, autism, are already being educated as if there was a resourced provision in place.

Approval at the meeting on Tuesday, February 25, to formalise this into an official resourced provision will enable some specialist support to be accessed in a mainstream environment, an officer report said.

Cllr Winning said there were no capital costs associated with the plan and Cantell School would be responsible for any ongoing maintenance.

A statutory public consultation took place last year and it received a positive response.

The provision at the site is based in a classroom on the second floor of the school’s main building and has an adjoining break out space and small sensory area.

Initially learning will take place in the identified base, however, as children adjust to the secondary school environment they will access mainstream subject areas, such as science and art.

The setting is supported by a core team of staff but pupils will also receive subject specific teaching throughout their time at the school.