Call made for delayed Send schools to be built

13 December 2025

Paul MoseleyNorfolk political reporter

PA Media A blurred image of the backs of schoolchildren in a classroom with a box of scissors and pencils in the foreground.

An MP is calling for swift action over plans for special educational needs and disabilities (Send) schools in Norfolk.

Terry Jermy, the Labour MP for South West Norfolk, said the government had confirmed it would provide £13m to pay for the long-planned schools in Downham Market and Great Yarmouth.

The Department for Education (DfE) said Norfolk County Council could use the money to either build them or create more places in existing mainstream classes.

Penny Carpenter, the Conservative council's cabinet member for children's services, said the authority would "explore options" to "find the most effective way to use this investment".

Jermy said the authority should build the schools as there was "a huge gap in provision" for children with Send in west Norfolk.

Shaun Whitmore/BBC Terry Jermy has short brown hair and is wearing a dark blue tweed jacket with a badge and a tartan red and blue shirt. — Terry Jermy said he believed the proposals for the two schools were "quite advanced"

Plans for the schools were announced by Norfolk County Council in 2023, and it later said it had made agreements with two multi-academy trusts to run them.

The proposed Great Yarmouth site would have 170 places for children with complex needs, aged from three to 19.

The Downham Market school would provide 100 places for children aged between five and 18 with communication and interaction needs.

The aim was to open them next year, but earlier this year the council said it had "no clarity" on whether DfE would supply the money, with the process held up following last year's general election and change of government.

However, it was finally confirmed as part of a £3bn announcement on Send support this week.

According to Jermy, £8m will go towards the Great Yarmouth school and £5m to the one in Downham Market, which is in his constituency.

The Downham Market school would be in the high school's former sixth form building at Ryston End, which closed in 2022.

"I am thrilled," said Jermy, who called for the council to move ahead with its plans.

"Now we've got the money we should be able to move quite quickly."

Paul Moseley/BBC Penny Carpenter is sitting in a room with a glass wall. She is wearing a red jacket and she has a small poppy pin badge on. — Penny Carpenter said mainstream schools also needed more funding from the government to support Send children

Carpenter called the government announcement "a helpful step forward and long overdue", but did not guarantee the schools would still be built.

"We will be looking to understand the detail of the announcement from the Department for Education and explore options with the trusts involved and the sector more widely, so that we find the most effective way to use this investment," she said.

She added that the council was looking to "move forward as rapidly as possible", and also called for the government to provide more support for Send children in mainstream schools.

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