Schools given £740m to adapt buildings for Send pupils

Over the summer holidays, the school spent about £10,000 on building adaptations, such as handrails and accessible bathrooms, for incoming students, making a “big dent” in its budget.

But the school lift remains broken and would cost about £250,000 to fix, which there is “absolutely no way” the school can afford.

And this means one wheelchair-using pupil has to go outside and through car parks to reach some classrooms.

“On wet December mornings, it's just not good enough,” Mr Horsfield says.

But he still believes most children with Send should be in mainstream schools and sees them "flourishing" when they have the right support.

“We should be supported to do that at a level that we want to do that at,” Mr Horsfield says.

“We are being constrained at the moment, due to the lack of funding and lack of resources.”

Over the past few years, the number of learning support assistants at the school has nearly halved and fewer pupils are able to access specialist counselling from outside services.

But the school still provides specialist workshops for those needing extra support, both for academic lessons and social, emotional and mental health.

The money would be used to adapt classrooms and create SEN units that delivered more intensive specialist support, the Department for Education said.

Increasing funding alone was not enough, Phillipson said, but large-scale reform would take time.

“Just putting more money in the system without reforming it isn’t the answer,” she said.

“What I’m also keen to make sure we do is reform the system overall.

“I know it’s frustrating but it’s so important we get it right.”

The government says children with Send should be able to go to school closer to home and wants more of them to remain in mainstream education.

“We've had schools that have done excellent work to put in place that provision but they didn't have government backing to do it - and that’s what we have to change,” Phillipson added.

Additional reporting by Kate McGough and Munaza Rafiq

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