Expanded Ardnashee campus to meet needs of growing enrolment a department priority, says Givan

Transcript

00:00Minister, can I ask you for an update on the Ardnaschie site in Derry, given that the new

00:05build which is currently underway is already too small for the current

00:08enrolment at the school? I'm going to thank the Member for the question because I've

00:12been to Ardnaschie, hugely impressive the work that is taking place within

00:18the Member's constituency. It was part of the announcements whenever we were

00:24looking at special schools and the capital needs that Ardnaschie would be

00:27developed to obviously extend the site because as soon as it opened it was no

00:32longer capable of meeting the needs. So Ardnaschie is one of those schools

00:36that I have taken that decision that requires the new build to be built

00:40beside it and that work is ongoing in order to try and deliver that but it is

00:45absolutely a priority scheme for the department.

00:49I thank the Minister for his answer and for his commitment to that. Can I ask him

00:55two things, firstly to provide a time frame for this and secondly on the

00:58broader query there are quite a number of schools which we've seen in the same

01:02predicament and how can the department work better on future planning to ensure

01:07that when we see an increased school numbers that that's reflected in any

01:10planning and in any future planning for those schools? Well I'm happy Mr.

01:15Speaker to give the Member a written update in terms of where we're

01:18currently at in terms of the processes, the time frame that we're working to and

01:22but he raises that important point that the forward planning, identifying the

01:29need and how we align the School of State to meet that need is a piece of

01:33work which I commissioned to take forward. EA has been carrying out that

01:37assessment of all special schools but whilst they were carrying that work out

01:41I recognised that Ardnaschie needed to get the go-ahead to allow this work to

01:46start so in advance of that work taking place I have approved Ardnaschie as I

01:52have Knock Evan and work continues to try and identify the site for Knock Evan

01:56but the operational plan for children with special educational needs they

02:02have been prioritised in that within the Education Authority and that is where

02:07the priority capital spend has been going 51 million pounds spent in this

02:11current financial year to meet the needs of children with special educational

02:15requirements and that'll continue to be the case because these are the most

02:19vulnerable and if we can't help the most vulnerable who are most in need

02:23then I think we're failing them and I'm very much of the view that it has to be

02:27a send first approach it's the approach that I take.