Special schools
The number of special schools in England has fallen
in each year since 1979.[288]
It should be noted that the rate of decline has slowed significantly
since 1997 but nevertheless, the number of maintained and non-maintained
special schools in England has continued to fall from 1,239 (1997)
to 1,148 (2004) as shown in Chart 6. If Pupil Referal Units are
taken into consideration, however, Chart 6 shows that there has
not been a decline in the overall number of special schools from
1996 to 2005.
The number of maintained special schools, specifically,
has reduced slightly from 1,171 in 1997 to 1,049 in 2005. The
number of non-maintained special schools has, in contrast, risen
from a low of 61 in 1999 to 73 in 2005. During the same period
the number of independent schools approved specifically by the
Department as suitable for the admission of pupils with statements
has fallen from 99 to 93, while the number of independent schools
registered with, but not approved by, the Department as catering
wholly or mainly for children with statements has increased from
69 to 148.[289]
Chart 6: Number of special schools by type, 1996-2005
Source: DfES. Statistical First Release 24/2005
The number of full-time pupils in special schools
has also fallen consistently since 1979 although, again, the vast
majority of decline in pupil numbers took place before 1997, and
indeed before 1991. Table 3 below shows that the number of pupils
in special schools fell by nearly 30% in the 12 years from 1979-1991.
As with the decline in the number of schools, the
rate of decline of pupils has slowed significantly since 1997
as shown in Table 3 below. From 1997-2005 there has been a 4%
decline in the total number of pupils in special schools.Table
3: The number of full-time pupils in special schools 1979-2005
