New SEND school places have been created around Watford to plug a "gap in provision.

Specialist resource provisions (SRPs) have opened in Bushey Meads, Bushey, and Warren Dell, South Oxhey, to address a lack of places identified by Hertfordshire County Council.

The council says the multi-million-pound investment will help meet “increased need” for SEND support in the county through tailored spaces in mainstream school, after the spaces opened in September.

Bushey Meads and Avanti Grange, in Bishops Stortford, are the two secondary schools benefiting from 20 spaces. Primary schools Downfield School, Cheshunt, Margaret Wix, Harpenden, and Warren Dell, South Oxhey, are all gaining SRP space for 12 pupils with education, health, and care plans (EHCPs).

County councillor Caroline Clapper, who is responsible for education, said: “We want all children in Hertfordshire including those with SEND to have their needs met with a range of inclusive provision available through our mainstream schools, specialist resource provision, alternative, and special school provision.”

The places are for pupils with speech, language, communication needs and autism who do not need to go to a special school but do need extra support to access mainstream school learning.

The support will be tailored to the individual’s needs to help boost confidence and communication skills, with higher staff to student ratios. This will then help them increase the time they are able to access mainstream classes.

More Hertfordshire SRPs are set to open in the next few years.

Cllr Clapper added: “We’re committed to providing the right education in the right place at the right time, and we know there is a need to create more provision in Hertfordshire so that our children and young people with SEND can attend the most appropriate education setting, and achieve the best possible outcomes, as close to their home and community as possible.”

Last month, it was also announced that Breakspeare School, Abbots Langley would be gaining 48 places at a satellite location at Holywell Primary School in Watford, ahead of a full relocation to Croxley Green in time for the 2025/26 school year.

Once moved, the school would offer another 65 places on top of that.