£3m school expansion in Wolverhampton will create 150 new places
A new SEND unit will be created to cope with rising demand
More than £3m is to be spent expanding a school in Wolverhampton by 150 pupils and creating a new SEND unit to cope with rising demand.
The number of pupils at The Khalsa Academy in Millfields Road, Bilston, would increase by 150 in addition to an extra 30 sixth form places and a 20-place SEND unit for pupils with speech, language and communication needs.
The £3m work would include the expansion of the school’s dining room, all floors would be remodelled and refurbished and another building would also be transformed into a space for sixth formers, the new SEND unit and administration to free up space in the main building for the increase in pupil numbers.
The school said it was unable to extend the existing school building due to extensive mineshafts in the area but had been leased a building from the Department for Education (DfE).
An extra 30 year 7 places would be created from September 2027 rising to 150 permanent places by September 2031.
A bulge class of 30 year 7 pupils will be created at the school from this September.
ONE Multi Academies Trust, which runs the school, said the SEND facilities would cater for pupils with speech, language and communication needs with 10 spaces created in the first year rising to 20 places in the following year.
The unit would open to pupils in September 2027, the council said.
The demand for specialist school places in Wolverhampton has risen significantly with the number of pupils with an education, health and care plans (EHCPs) rising by more than 50 per cent in the last five years – growing from 2,185 in 2021 to 3,352 in 2026.
Autism spectrum disorder, speech, language and communication, and social, emotional and mental health are the most common needs with all seeing year-on-year increases.
Speech, language and communication increased from 714 children in February 2025 to 809 at the same this year – a rise of more than 13 per cent.
The council said demand is increasing faster than places can be created and is forced to place children in independent provision in Wolverhampton as well as outside the city – which comes at a high cost.
The average cost per child per year is around £76,000.
Figures included with the council’s decision showed that pupils starting secondary school in Wolverhampton in September year have seen their year groups grow by more than 390 pupils from starting primary school in 2019 – far exceeding the 300-pupil average.
The city’s year 5 cohort has also already grown by 415 pupils according to the same figures.
The current year 2 cohort has grown by nearly nine classes in three years and the city’s year 1 cohort has already increased by more than six class sizes in two years.
Key stage two classes – years 3, 4, 5 and 6 – have already increased beyond the historical average with the latter three year groups all rising by near or above 13 full classes since starting school seven years earlier.