Liverpool City Council’s Cabinet will next week be asked to approve plans for temporary modular classrooms which will see a further increase in school places for pupils with SEND.
The classrooms are set to provide 40 further places at the Naylorsfield Drive site of Millstead Primary School, Netherley, from this September for two years, after which pupils will transfer to the new Princes Primary School from September 2027. Four classrooms will be provided in two units.
Liverpool, like many other areas across the country, has seen a considerable rise in demand for SEND places, and the city is working hard through its SEND sufficiency programme to increase the number of places in maintained schools. The number of children and young people (up to age 25) in Liverpool with an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) has quadrupled from 2020-2024, with 57 per cent attending a special school.
Increasing places in the city’s maintained schools means that the council is less likely to be required to fund places in the independent sector – which for 40 pupils could be as much as £2.4m per year.
To ensure work is completed on time for the new school year, the report further recommends that the contract for the project be awarded to existing contractors already working on the Naylorsfield Drive site.
The work taking place at Millstead is part of ongoing extensive plans to increase the number of SEND places in the city and improve school buildings. The refurbishment of the former Hope School buildings on the Naylorsfield Drive site has already brought 80 further places to the city with wider plans also including the new-build and relocation of Princes Primary School which will allow all parts of the school to operate from a single site.
