New sixth form college for Darlington SEND students officially opened
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson cut the ribbon earlier
A new sixth form college for students with special educational needs and disabilities is officially open in Darlington, fulfilling a 30-year dream for a leading educator.
Executive principal of Beaumont Hill Academy, Caroline Green, saw her long-held ambitions accomplished when Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson performed the honours of cutting the ribbon earlier.
The new sixth form college has been created from a redundant SureStart Centre building owned by Darlington Borough Council, opposite the Education Village, on Salters Lane South, at a cost of more than £840,000. The scheme also includes creating four more classrooms on the Education Village site to allow more Darlington pupils to be educated locally.
The sixth form college will deliver a variety of accreditations to SEND students, including BTEC Prevocational Award and Certificates, in a range of subjects, such as AQA Unit Awards in English, maths, PSHE, physical education, ICT, ASDAN PSD entry level functional skills in maths, AQA Step up to English entry Level 1-3, Pearson BTEC Level 1 and Level 2 Awards in Home Cooking Skills.
Beaumont Hill Academy, which is part of the Education Village Academy Trust, currently has 400 pupils, aged two to 19, making it one of the largest SEND facilities in the country.
The new college will feature classrooms, kitchen facilities and outdoor space to deliver post-16 educational provision to even more students as demand for such teaching skills burgeons.
Caroline Green said: “It has always been my dream to have such a sixth form college and now we have. Staff, students, parents and carers are very excited about the prospect.
“We have been involved with the design and it is brilliant, feeling much more like a college than a school. The idea is that the young people can host events there as it’s not on the Education Village site.
“SEND is much more visible today with greater recognition and diagnosis of conditions. Better medical intervention also allows disabled students to go to school. I have seen our school double in size and there is a massive increase in autism at the moment.”
The Education Secretary was taken on a tour of the new college, met staff and students and was shown demonstrations of some of the work that goes on at Beaumont Hill.