School celebrates as new building opens
JON MACPHERSON
ANEW £770,000 building to provide further education at a school for young people with special educational needs has been officially opened.
Broadfield College, part of Broadfield Specialist School on Fielding Lane in Oswaldtwistle, has been ‘purpose-built’ to meet the individual needs of students aged 16 to 19.
The school, which was judged by Ofsted in 2015 to be ‘outstanding’, caters for young people aged 11 to 19 with a wide range of special educational needs and has provided further education from two temporary buildings since 2011.
County council bosses said the new purposebuilt facility has ‘replaced this temporary provision’.
Lee Bentley, extended services co-ordinator at Broadfield Specialist School, said: “We are so lucky, in these times of austerity and restricted budgets, that Lancashire has been able to support our school with this wonderful new building. Our students and staff are thrilled with the new ‘college’ and the transition has been very smooth.
“It is a more appropriate resource for our older students; it gives them not only more physical space, but a more ‘grown up environment’ that enables us to develop the skills they need to support them in their adult destinations.
“We are so grateful that we have been supported with this resource. Our students deserve these facilities and the opportunities that we will be able to offer them, both in terms of curriculum development and their well-being and comfort.”
County councillor Janice Hanson, who carried out the official opening, said: “The college is a wonderful new building and I feel very proud to open it. It gives the older pupils extra space in a more mature environ- ment.
“Staff are able to better support the young people to develop the skills they’ll need in their adult life.”
County councillor Matthew Tomlinson, cabinet member for children, young people and schools, said the new building is ‘hugely impressive’. He said: “It will increase the opportunities and experiences that can be offered to the young people, both in terms of the actual curriculum and their wellbeing and comfort.”
County council leader Jennifer Mein, said: “We’ve got a really dedicated team who I’m sure will provide excellent commitment to everyone who attends Broadfield Specialist School, and to the new college, in the years to come.”