Proposal to open a Cognition and Learning Unit at The Buckingham School

Overview

With the support of the School Governors of The Buckingham School, we want to hear your views on our proposal to open a Cognition and Learning Unit at The Buckingham School.

The unit would have eight places for children with Cognition and Learning needs as detailed in their Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP). Only children whose EHCP states they need support from a unit would be admitted and admissions would be controlled by the SEND team. Parents would not be able to apply directly to the school for a place in the unit.

These eight places would be in addition to the school's mainstream places. If agreed, the unit would open in January 2027.

Increasing need for Cognition and Learning support Increasing need for Cognition and Learning support

Over the last five years in Buckinghamshire there has been a:

48% (1901 pupils) increase in the number of pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabled (SEND) with an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP)
30% increase in the number of secondary aged pupils with Cognition and Learning needs

Over the next five years in Buckinghamshire we are expecting:

a further 51% increase in the number of EHCP pupils
the number of secondary aged pupils with Cognition and Learning needs to continue to rise

As part of our SEND Education Sufficiency Strategy the Council sought expressions of interest from schools interested in opening a secondary age inclusion unit. The Buckingham School submitted an expression of interest to open a unit to meet the demand for places and we are therefore proposing to open a Cognition and Learning Unit.

What this proposal would mean for pupils and staff at the school What this proposal would mean for pupils and staff at the school

A key aim of the unit is to allow pupils to access a mainstream curriculum, whilst accessing specific specialist support. Pupils attending the Unit would:

spend most of their time based within the Unit (self-contained with its own outside play area)
be able to join in with parts of the school day, where appropriate

Specialist teachers would be employed to manage the new unit:

staffed by teachers and learning support assistants
additional professionals to support pupils – including a speech and language therapist, occupational therapist and play therapist
further professionals would be employed depending on the needs of the children
all staff in the unit would be trained to support pupils who have Cognition and Learning needs

How the unit would be funded How the unit would be funded

The new unit would be accommodated in an existing drama droom which would be refurbished to provide a dedicated classroom, a therapy room and a calm room.

In order to compensate for the loss of the existing drama room, the old lecture theatre will be refurbished to create a new multipurpose performance/drama space. The unit will have its own outdoor courtyard which would be refurbished as part of the planned works.

The cost of the planned works would be funded using government funding that has been made available for providing new/expanding existing SEND provision across the county. Additional revenue funding would be provided to fund the unit. It would therefore not have a detrimental impact on the school’s existing revenue budget or impact on provision for pupils.

It is proposed that the works would commence on the unit during the summer 2026 and complete by the end of the year such that the new provision would open from January 2027. Pupil numbers would be gradually increased each year, until reaching the total capacity of eight.

Event to find out more

We are hosting a drop-in session for parents, families and any other interested parties where you can find out more about the proposals and discuss with representatives of the school and local authority:

Public drop-in event on Wednesday 25 March 2026 from 5:30pm to 7:00pm
- at the Buckingham School, London Road, Buckingham MK18 1AT

How to have your say

You can tell us your views in one of the following ways:

complete the online survey using the link at the end of the page
complete, and return, a printed version of the survey (PDF 0.37MB)
email us at BuckinghamschoolSENDunitconsultation@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
write to us at The School Commissioning Team, Buckinghamshire Council, 1st Floor Walton Street Office, Aylesbury, HP20 1UZ

If you have any questions about this consultation, or require this information in another format or language, please email us at BuckinghamschoolSENDunitconsultation@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Please tell us your views by 11:59pm on Sunday 26 April 2026.

What happens next

With The Buckingham School Governing Board, we will consider all the responses we receive and take a decision on whether to proceed to the next stage and publish a statutory notice to open a Cognition and Learning Unit.

Statutory notice and representation period

If a statutory notice is published, there is a four week period in which you can make any further representations. If the decision is taken to proceed, we would expect the representation period to run from 20 May to 16 June 2026.

Final decision

The Leader of Buckinghamshire Council, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education and Children’s Services, would take into consideration any representations made before making a decision on the final outcome. We would expect this decision to be made in summer 2026.

Privacy

We will use the information you provide here only for this activity. We will store the information securely in line with data protection laws and will not share or publish any personal details. Survey responses will be analysed using Microsoft products including Copilot, Excel and Word. For more information about data and privacy, please see our Privacy Policy.

If you have questions about data and privacy, please email us on dataprotection@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or write to our Data Protection Officer at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF.

Give us your views

Online Survey

Areas

North Bucks Community Board

Interests

Children & young people
Health
Mental health and wellbeing
Schools & education