Issue details

Proposed decision –The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills:

1. APPROVE the increase of Broomhill Bank School’s designated number from 318 students to 490 students

2. AGREE to allocate the funding from the Children Young People and Education Services High Needs Capital Budget that will be required to complete the expansion

3. AGREE to issue a Public Notice to permanently increase Broomhill Bank School’s formal designated numbers following a representation period of four weeks with no substantive objections received, implement the decision

4. DELEGATE authority to the Director of Infrastructure, in consultation with the Head of Law and Director of Education to enter into any necessary contracts or other legal agreements as required to implement the decision; and

5. AGREE for the Director of Infrastructure, to be the nominated Authority Representative within the relevant agreements and to enter into variations as envisaged under the contracts.

Reason for the decision

Kent County Council (KCC) as the Local Authority, has a statutory duty to ensure sufficient high quality school places are available, in the right places for all learners, while at the same time fulfilling our other responsibilities to raise education standards and promote parental preference. The Kent Commissioning Plan 2025-2029 indicated that there will be a shortfall in Special School provision in North and West Kent. Even though KCC’s direction of travel is to increase Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision in mainstream schools and associated Specialist Resource Provisions (SRPs), due to already identified shortfalls and anticipated population growth in certain areas of North and West Kent, more specialist provision is required for children and young people with more complex needs.

KCC SEN Data for North Kent as at April 2025, evidenced that there were 237 children and young people waiting for a Special School placement, and 243 open cases, of which was anticipated that a large number would require a Special School placement. For West Kent as at April 2025, there were 201 children and young people awaiting a Special School placement, with 207 open cases.

In July 2023 KCC was informed that it had been successful in bidding for a new 250 place Profound, Severe, and Complex Needs (PSCN) Special School in North Kent (Swanley). The school had an initial target opening date of September 2026 and was to be funded and built by the Department for Education (DfE). However, for a number of reasons progress has been incredibly slow and there are now concerns that the school may not progress any further. Even if it were to continue, that school would not be built until 2028 at the very earliest and as the data shows, provision is required now. KCC Officers and the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills continue to push the DfE and Ministers for confirmation of the status of the proposed new Swanley Special School.

The proposal to permanently increase the formal designated number of the Broomhill Bank School from 318 students to 490 students, will require new teaching spaces and enhancements to existing infrastructure on both school sites in Tunbridge Wells and Hextable.

If no further action is taken in the longer term, KCC will find it extremely difficult to provide sufficient state-funded Special School provision in North and West Kent.

Background – Provide brief additional context

Broomhill Bank School is a Foundation Special School and a member of Kent Special Educational Needs Trust (KsENT), catering for students aged 11-19 years who have communication and interaction needs associated with Autism and speech, language, and communication needs. All students have Education, Health, and Care Plans. Following an inspection that took place in October 2023, Ofsted deemed Broomhill Bank School to be a ‘GOOD’ school.

Due to delays regarding the proposed new PSCN School, the numbers of students in North Kent still requiring specialist provision at this time, and the fact that all Special Schools in the locality are already over capacity; this is unsustainable in the short and medium term, and if not addressed will lead to further places in the independent sector. There is a clear need for further expansion of state-funded specialist provision, where appropriate, to secure the current number of places on a permanent basis alongside the expansion of SRPs and mainstream inclusion.

Options (other options considered but discarded)

KCC has considered whether other Special Schools in the North and West Kent areas are viable candidates for a permanent increase to their formal designated numbers. There is also a proposal to expand Parkwood Hall Co-operative Academy, but this alone will not produce sufficient places to meet current demand, as that expansion primarily relates to additional places for Primary age children. Therefore, Broomhill Bank School is the most appropriate and viable option to also increase its designated number.

By increasing their formal designated number through the physical expansion of Broomhill Bank School, which is KCC maintained provision, it protects the Local Authority from increased revenue costs. The proposal will help to mitigate against the need to place students further away from home and incurring additional transport costs, alongside incurring increased costs from placing a greater number of children in high-cost independent settings to alleviate the current pressures in KCC state-funded Special Schools in the area.

How the proposed decision supports the Framing Kent's Future - Our Council Strategy 2022-2026

The 'Securing Kent's Future' strategy outlines the measures that KCC intend to take to ensure that Kent remains financially stable, now, and long into the future. It describes the statutory priorities.

This proposed decision supports Priority 1 of Framing Kent’s Future-Our Council Strategy 2022-2026:

·         Priority 1: Levelling Up Kent – It will help maintain KCC’s strategic role in supporting schools in Kent to deliver accessible, high quality education provision for all families.

How the proposed decision supports Securing Kent’s Future 2022-2026: Securing Kents Future - Budget Recovery Strategy.pdf

This proposed decision is compliant with Objective 1 of Securing Kent’s Future, KCC as the LA proposes to expand Broomhill Bank School.This proposal is necessary for KCC to continue to deliver the statutory duty, in a cost-effective way, in line with the guidelines described in the Securing Kent's Future 2022-2026 strategy.

The proposed new Strategic Statement will be presented to Full Council on 6 November 2025 and considered for adoption. As this FED was drafted prior to that date, it aligns with the relevant policies at the time. Even though the Cabinet Committee Paper will be published after 6 November 2025 Full Council meeting, it will have been drafted prior to the adoption of a new Strategic Statement and so will also refer to Securing Kent’s Future 2022-2026.

Financial Implications

Progression of the scheme will be dependent on the outcome of detailed feasibility and design work – these will inform the full overall cost of the scheme, at which point the formal decision will be taken by the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills. The project will be a school managed scheme and will be confirmed via legally binding funding and development agreements between KCC and Broomhill Bank School. The costs of the two new blocks on the North (Hextable) site, and upgrades and modifications across both the North (Hextable) site and West (Tunbridge Well) site will be borne by the CYPE High Needs Capital Budget. This is funded from a ring-fenced Capital Grant from the DfE. From initial feasibility studies, the estimated cost for the whole scheme was £4,000,000.

However, after initial feedback from KCC Planning and Highways colleagues, there is a possibility that costs may increase, primarily due to the need for additional Highways mitigations around the Broomhill Bank School North (Hextable) site. Therefore, we will not be requesting the formal decision to be taken until such time that planning is concluded, and the full extent of the cost of the scheme is known.The latest estimates indicate the costs could increase to as much as c£5.5m, but much work still needs to be undertaken with Planners and Highways to determine the extent of the mitigations required.

For Special School capital projects, the average cost per student place for a school expansion in Kent is c£85,000. However, even if this scheme were to produce only the teaching accommodation for 105 students the higher estimated cost equates to a cost per place of c£52,000, which still demonstrates good value for money.

KCC Project Managers will be undertaking continuous checks to keep project costs as low as possible.

An allowance of up to £2,500 per teaching space may be payable to Broomhill Bank School; to outfit each new teaching room with appropriate ICT equipment, such as touch screens or projection equipment. This will be met from the overall Capital allocation for this scheme.

The High Needs Capital Programme has been running since 2020-21 with a total combined budget of just under £109m of which £67m has been either spent or committed to current known schemes (as at Quarter 1 2025 capital monitoring reported to Cabinet in September 2025). In the same way as the Basic Need programme is managed, to ensure all schemes are prioritised appropriately and expenditure is controlled within available funding, any proposed new or additional capital expenditure, first needs to be considered by KCC Officers through Education Asset Board, before being progressed through the formal governance processes and included in the capital programme.

Should the scheme not proceed through to completion, any costs incurred at the time of cessation would become abortive costs and are likely to be recharged to Revenue. This would be reported through the regular financial monitoring reports to Cabinet. This would be a cost to the General Fund.

As the scheme progresses, £8,000 per newly provided learning space, would be provided towards the cost of furniture and equipment, such as tables, desks, chairs, cabinets and learning resources. This would be funded from the Dedicated Schools Grant Growth Fund.

State funded Special School places are commissioned by Local Authorities and paid based on a rate per place. The rate per place set by KCC for Broomhill Bank School is currently between £15,041 to £24,946 dependant on need type. The higher rate for Broomhill Bank School is approximately £35,000 less than a place in an independent Special School. Local Authorities use the High Needs Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant to pay for these places. Broomhill Bank School will use the revenue income they receive to facilitate additional staffing requirements and increased running costs.

Legal Implications

Under the Children and Families Act 2014 KCC has a duty ‘to support the child and his or her parent, or the young person, in order to facilitate the development of the child or young person and to help him or her achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes’. By ensuring we have appropriate provision as locally as possible, we are delivering on our obligation in accordance with this legislation.

Local Authorities need to deliver their statutory duties and be aware of non-statutory guidance and advice, which relate to children and young people with SEN. These are:

·       Department for Education-Making significant changes to maintained schools 2025: statutory guidance for proposers and decision makers.

·       The Equalities Act which: places duties on Local Authorities to review support services and in doing so requires Local Authorities to have due regard to the way in which any changes will affect children and young people with a disability.

·       The SEND Code of Practice places requirements on Local Authorities to: provide access to advice from a suitably qualified person as part of the EHCP process and subsequent “assess, plan, do, review” cycles, and make appropriate provision for those with an EHC plan in the 0-25 range.

·       Sufficiency Duties: KCC is under a statutory duty to contribute towards the spiritual, moral, mental, and physical development of the community by securing that efficient primary education and secondary education are available to meet the needs of the population of their area: section 13 of the Education Act 1996 (“the 1996 Act”).

·       KCC must ensure that its education functions are exercised by the authority with a view to promoting high standards, ensuring fair access to opportunity for education and training, and promoting the fulfilment of learning potential by every person under the age of 20 and those over the age of 20 and for whom an EHC Plan is maintained: section 13A. By section 14, KCC must secure that sufficient schools for providing primary and secondary education are available for their area, defined as being sufficient in number, character and equipment to provide for all students the opportunity of appropriate education.

·       Under section 27 of the Children and Families Act 2014 (“the 2014 Act”), KCC is under a duty to keep under review the educational provision, training provision and social care provision made in its area (and outside it) for children and young people who have special educational needs or a disability. KCC must consider the extent to which its provision is sufficient to meet the educational needs, training needs and social care needs of the children and young people concerned.

·         KCC, when carrying out its functions must have “due regard” to the provisions of section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, known as the ‘public sector equality duty’.

All individual proposals to either establish new, expand current or cease current provision are required to go through the statutory process under The School Organisation (Prescribed Alterations to Maintained Schools) (England) (Amendment) Regulations, 2025. As part of this process, a public consultation was undertaken ahead of presentation of the proposal to CYPE Cabinet Committee. Should the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills agree to the permanently increase to the formal designated number of the Broomhill Bank School from 318 students to 490 students, through a permanent expansion, a Public Notice will be issued for a period of 4 weeks.

The Director of Infrastructure in consultation with the Director of Education will be overseeing the scheme to ensure public funds are utilised appropriately.