£20m funding for new special school in Cheltenham to go before cabinet
Gloucestershire County Council’s cabinet will be asked to approve the funding.
Gloucestershire County Council’s cabinet will be asked to approve funding for a new special school for children aged 4 to 16 later.
If approved, it will be an ‘all-through’ school for up to 200 primary and secondary pupils, opening in 2028. It will be built on land owned by the county council, at Alstone Croft, accessed from Arle Road, in Cheltenham.
The local authority says there continues to be an increasing need for special school places in the county, with the highest number of places needed in Gloucester and Cheltenham, and at a location within easy reach of other parts of the county.
The shortage of places locally means some children currently travel to schools out of county or to independent schools to have their educational needs met.
With the approval of this scheme, the county council will have committed to deliver an additional 540 special school places since 2022. Two new special schools, Brook Academy in Brockworth, and Sladewood in Stroud, have already been opened and provide 80 and 60 school places respectively.
The recently approved special school to open in Gloucester at Wheatridge East will deliver a further 200 places.
The council has invested around £50 million during this time to extend the number of special school places in the county.
It has also invested £2.7 million in recent years to create additional places at existing special schools across the county, such as Belmont School in Cheltenham and Alderman Knight School in Tewkesbury and delivered extra accommodation at Heart of the Forest Special School
In addition, a further £2.3 million will be spent on supporting children and young people on the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) waiting list for a school place.
Cllr Stephen Davies, Leader of Gloucestershire County Council, said: “We are committed to making sure children and young people in our county get the specialist education they need at a school closer to where they live.
“This £20 million investment will provide a further 200 specialist school places in Gloucestershire. This will bring the number of new special school places to 540 since 2022.”
Should plans gain Cabinet approval, the council says it will work closely with partners such as Cheltenham Borough Council and other key stakeholders, like the Parent Carer Forum, to make sure that local residents and parents in the SEND community have the opportunity to feedback on plans for the school.
The school building will be designed to operate at net zero carbon emissions in line with the county council’s pledge to reduce Gloucestershire’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2030.