5. Education, including Special Educational Needs

North Northamptonshire's Dedicated Schools Grant deficit was forecast to reach £25 million by the end of 2024/25. Demand for Education, Health and Care Plans grew 75% between January 2019 and January 2023. Council modelling expects high-needs-block-funded provision to double between 2022 and 2032. The Council's bid for a new SEND special free school was unsuccessful, although a more recent bid for a free alternative provision school was under consideration in 2024.

North Northamptonshire Council's September 2024 Executive paper on Primary Education Provision in Corby reported that estate yields from Weldon Park and Priors Hall now mean three forms of entry will be sufficient in the short term, rather than the originally expected five but the Priors Hall Zone 3 primary school will still be required after the 1,500th occupation.

5.1 School places targets

5.2 Specialist SEND school

A new all-age specialist school, with a focus on autistic spectrum and social, emotional, and mental health needs, is the single most important educational commitment in this plan. We would press for a renewed DfE free school bid, sited centrally with good public transport access.

5.3 Mainstream inclusion

• Funded resource bases at six mainstream primary and secondary schools.
• SENCO time guarantee: every primary school in the Growth Area to have at least 0.5 FTE dedicated SENCO time, rising to 1.0 FTE in schools above 300 pupils.
• Early years SEND identification fund: extra capacity for educational psychology, speech and language therapy, and occupational therapy to cut waiting times for assessment to under 12 weeks.

5.4 Skills, post-16 and adult learning

• Continued investment in Tresham College's Corby campus.
• Apprenticeship guarantee: every Corby school leaver to have a guaranteed offer.
• Adult learning hub at the Cube.

5.5 Keeping students in education: retention at Tresham College

Corby's problem in education is not only places; it is staying. Too many young people who start a course at 16 do not finish it, and a young person who drops out of college in Corby has fewer alternatives than one in a city: the next campus is a bus ride away, the jobs on offer without qualifications are largely in warehousing, and once a year is lost it is rarely recovered. Tresham College's Corby campus, part of the Bedford College Group, is the town's main post-16 provider and the place where this is won or lost.

We propose a Corby retention programme, developed with Tresham College and the town's secondary schools, with the aim that every young person who enrols at 16 completes their course or moves into an apprenticeship or a job with training and that no Corby student leaves education at 17 with nothing to show for the year.

• Published retention and achievement data for the Corby campus, by course, each year, so that the town can see the position and track progress.
• Transition support from Year 11: joint work between the secondary schools and the college so that course choices are right first time, with a named contact for every student identified as at risk of not completing.
• Practical barriers removed: free or subsidised bus travel to the campus for 16- to 18-year-olds, help with kit and equipment for vocational courses, and a hardship fund for students whose attendance is threatened by cost.
• Course switching, not dropping out: a guaranteed route to change course or move to an apprenticeship within the first term without losing the year.
• Attendance and wellbeing support on site, including mental health and careers advice, so that students who begin to disengage are noticed early.
• Employer pathways: local employers, including the logistics and manufacturing firms that are Corby's largest employers, offering structured work placements and apprenticeships linked to courses, so that staying at college leads visibly somewhere.
• A Corby Post-16 Forum where the college, the secondary schools, employers and student representatives meet each term to review retention and act on it.

5.6 What Corby will press for

• A Schools Voice forum where headteachers, SENCOs, and parent representatives meet quarterly with Corby's councillors and MP.
• The renewed SEND free school bid backed by a formal resolution of North Northamptonshire Council and by the Joint Infrastructure Forum.
• Small grants for school PTAs and SEND parent groups, particularly in the Lloyds and Kingswood wards, through the community funding routes in Section 13.
• Careers fairs and apprenticeship matching events in partnership with Tresham College and the Bedford College Group sixth form.
• Cross-boundary school place issues taken to the Joint Infrastructure Forum with Stanion, Little Stanion, and Weldon parish councils including the live Little Stanion Section 106 education obligation dispute.
• Retention and achievement at Tresham College's Corby campus reported annually in the Infrastructure Watch report.

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