It’s time to rethink how we educate children with special educational needs

Too often, pupils are placed far from their communities, sometimes across counties, simply because the right support doesn’t exist nearby.

This isn’t just a logistical issue. It disrupts families, fragments social ties, strains mental health, and pushes local authority budgets to breaking point. At the same time, it disconnects children from the very environments where they deserve to grow and belong.

There’s a better way, one that starts with how we use the built environment. Adapting, extending, or redesigning mainstream schools to provide inclusive SEN provision offers a practical, scalable, and cost-effective solution. When children are educated locally, they remain close to home, families gain routine and stability, councils regain control over spending and raise the standard of support, communities stay connected, and children benefit from a sense of continuity.

The current model is under real strain. Annual spending on high-end Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) provision now exceeds £11 billion. Thousands of SEN pupils travel over 20 miles a day for education, with rare cases involving journeys of more than 500 miles for residential placements. These distances are not just expensive, they are physically and emotionally draining for children who already face significant challenges. Long travel times often affect behaviour, limit social development, and reduce access to after-school support.

But we don’t need to build new specialist schools on every site. What we need is to think differently about the schools we already have. By making targeted changes to layout, accessibility, and learning environments, we can transform mainstream settings to better accommodate a broader range of needs. Classrooms can be adapted to include sensory regulation zones. Buildings can be extended to create calm spaces and flexible support units. Schools can be redesigned to reimagine or restructure how the estate is planned or used so that mainstream and SEN provision complement rather than compete.

The Department for Education supports this direction. Its latest statutory guidance encourages local authorities to consider capital investment and transport costs together when planning SEN provision. The aim is clear: reduce long-distance placements and support more children in their home communities. This is not only about cost-efficiency, it’s about quality of life and long-term impact.

Mainstream schools already serve 18 percent of pupils with recognised special educational needs, and around 5 percent of all children now have EHCPs. That number is rising, yet many school buildings were never designed to handle this level of complexity. Financial pressures, inadequate space, and the need for integrated services present real barriers. But with strategic planning, these barriers can be addressed.

When schools are designed to be inclusive, children feel a greater sense of belonging, and it shows. We see better attendance, improved behaviour and stronger learning outcomes. These environments raise expectations for what education can offer all children, while also creating opportunities like independent travel training, building confidence, life skills and long-term independence.

The financial argument is equally strong. A local mainstream placement costs roughly £24,000 per year. The same child placed in a special school can cost over £62,000. This gap is substantial, especially when outcomes are not always better in higher-cost settings. Councils are under increasing financial pressure, and sending money out of area delivers little long-term value. In contrast, investing in existing school buildings creates lasting local benefit. It helps manage budgets, reduces tribunal risk and builds confidence in the local offer.

This isn’t a question of feasibility. It’s a question of will. Do we believe that children should have the right to be educated within their own communities, wherever possible? If the answer is yes, then we must design our education system and the buildings that support it to make that happen. It requires joined-up working across departments within Tier 1 authorities, bringing together education, health, estates, and transport to plan and deliver in a more coordinated way. It requires moving beyond reactive placements and towards strategic planning rooted in inclusion.

This is the future of education: intelligent, inclusive, and community based. It starts not with policy, but with design. And it’s a future we’re actively helping to shape.

Download our education route map to learn about Norse Group’s approach to inclusive design.