Pencalenick school is a specialist school in Truro, Cornwall to meet the needs of children and young people in Cornwall with an identified SEN (special educational need). It currently supports over 100 children. 28 children currently use the overnight (boarding facilities which Include overnight stays, support with independent daily living and life skills and access to the community through activities, enrichment and social integration). It is the only school of it's kind to offer these unique and valuable facilities which are so important. Pencalenick school has helped hundreds, if not thousands of students and boarders achieve independence into adulthood through its unique school offer.

On 20th May Cornwall Council announced it was launching a 3 week consultation with interested parties. It said that the boarding facilities use was 'declining' and that it no longer represented 'value for money'. They said the money would be used to facilitate SEN day placements instead.

Cornwall Council say they are in a budget crisis, but this doesn't mean this has to be at the expense of our most vulnerable. Our specialist schools are already bursting and many are already well over PAN (published admission numbers). Since Covid we have seen a dramatic reduction in our local services. Day care services, respite, short break services and so much more have either been cut to the bone or completely closed leading to massive waiting times for support for families, children and adults- cutting off our most vulnerable from the support they need. We need investment, not cuts to these vital services

It is our view that this provision is too vital to lose. Our children learn such important independence skills in preparation for adulthood, the skills they learn like sleeping away from home, Integrating into their local communities and learning important daily living skills are crucial so when they reach adulthood and the support they then require is less. Some of our children who board have to travel in taxi's or public transport for up to 2 hours each way to get to Pencalenick due to the lack of more local specialist provision (up to 4 hours a day travelling time); this is completely overwhelming for them but they don't have a choice: Boarding offers a welcome stop overnight and a chance to recoup and be ready for learning.  As well as all of the benefits above, the cost of this provision is so much less than the cost in providing these type of services in adulthood, this provision is saving Cornwall Council so much money in the long term and should be a model for other specialist schools

This is such an important cause to save the residential provision at Pencalenick, our children's wellbeing's and the amazing dedicated staff who stand to lose their jobs at pencalenick. So let's send a message to Cornwall Council that our services won't be cut to the bone any longer, and they wont remove this vital provision.  Please sign