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Planning education and childcare places in Somerset

The Education Places Strategy Team makes sure there are enough good-quality education and childcare places for children and young people.

Who we are

The Education Places Strategy Team makes sure there are enough good-quality education and childcare places for children and young people. We work with early years settings, schools, specialist providers and other partners to plan places in the right areas.

We follow Somerset’s Local First approach. This means we try to make sure children can learn close to home, in their own communities, wherever this is possible.

Our legal duties

We have several legal duties related to education place planning. These include:

  • Making sure there are enough early years and childcare places.
  • Making sure there are enough school places at primary, secondary and all-through schools.
  • Planning enough specialist and alternative provision for children and young people with additional needs.
  • Using public money responsibly when creating, changing or reviewing places.

These duties help make sure children can access the right place, at the right time, in a safe and suitable setting.

What we do

Understanding need

We look at information such as birth numbers, local housing development, population movement in and out of Somerset, which informs the pupil population forecasts. This helps us understand where more places are needed and where there may be too many.

Planning places

We work with all educators, schools, early years providers and academy trusts to plan how to meet local supply and demand. This can include:

  • Expanding existing provision
  • Creating new provision
  • Changing or repurposing surplus places to meet different types of educational need, including SEND

Supporting change

We provide information and data to inform and secure developer contributions, where the impact of new housing may lead to insufficient early years or school places. The team support school organisation processes when changes are required.

Promoting local access

We aim to keep education local. This helps families stay connected to their community and can reduce long travel times.

Education Places Strategy

Our work follows the Education Places Strategy for Somerset. The strategy explains:

  • Our legal duties
  • The principles we use when planning places
  • Current challenges and future demand
  • How we will respond to changes in need

Contact the Education Places Strategy Team

If you have questions about education place planning, please contact the Education Places Strategy Team.

Email: educationplaces@somerset.gov.uk

Downloads

Document preview
Education Places Strategy

PDF, 1.27MB

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Last updated: July 27, 2026

Next review due: January 27, 2027

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