Council invests £1.7m in learning centres

Argyll and Bute Council is investing more than £1.7 million to set up four more dedicated learning centres in schools for children with additional needs.

The education service is seeing greater levels of pupils unable to control or regulate their behaviour. There has also been more requests for help from parents and carers.

The new ASN learning centres mean children and young people with more complex needs will be able to benefit from tailored high-level help.

In addition, the council will also be developing Secondary Enhanced Wellbeing Hubs within four mainstream secondary schools to tackle the growing social and emotional needs of a number of children and young people in a way that keeps them in the heart of their own communities and schools.

Dedicated Learning Centres are already in some schools in the area but at last week’s full council, councillors approved proposals to make access to learning centres more equitable across Argyll and Bute.

This decision means that the council will create a dedicated primary learning centre in south Kintyre, cross-sector provision on both Mull and Islay, as well as an additional learning centre targeted at secondary learners in Helensburgh and Lomond.

Once up and running, the council will carry out a review of the centres before starting the roll out of the secondary Enhanced Wellbeing Hubs.

The facilities in the centres will be bespoke and many will include accessible teaching spaces, breakout quiet rooms, low stimulus, and high stimulus sensory rooms, appropriate outdoor space, changing facilities with the necessary equipment to meet the physical needs of some children and young people. Learning centres will also develop curriculum plans to include a wide-range of flexibility to support all learners to achieve their potential.

Argyll and Bute policy lead for education, Councillor Yvonne McNeilly, said it is an exciting time for the education service and the move is one which she is certain will be welcomed by children and young people with complex needs and their parents.

“We want to improve and secure equity of specialist provision for children and young people with ASNs in Argyll and Bute. There are currently gaps in this provision and many pupils have to travel out of the area to access these key services. We don’t want this to be the case and that is why we are investing more than £1.7 million.”

She added: “This approach allows an individual and tailored method of inclusion which can be reviewed regularly and adapted to suit the pupil’s needs. Importantly, this method of providing an enhanced provision also allows children to maintain a full lifestyle within their local area and doesn’t require long periods of time travelling to external placements on a daily basis or, in some of the most complex cases, on a residential basis.”