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<p>Every child in this country, whatever their background, should have the opportunity
to get a world class education, giving them knowledge and skills that set them up
for life. This includes children with special educational needs and disabilities.
To help achieve this ambition, the department has opened 34 new special free schools
through the free schools programme, with a further 91 approved to open in the future.</p><p>The
department’s experience of opening special free schools has shown that the commitment
from local authorities is important so that new schools compliment the local education
offer and are a close match for what families need. That is why in the recent round,
we asked local authorities to set out their case for why a new special free school
would benefit their area, including how the new school would help them manage their
high needs budget.</p><p>This process does not replace the free school presumption
process and does not replace a local authority’s duty to secure sufficient appropriate
education for children and young people.</p><p>If there is significant basic need
in an area, the local authority should decide whether a free school presumption competition
is needed and if so, they must seek proposals to establish a free school through the
presumption process.</p>
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