New £640,000 educational unit to be created at school

Facility at Thorpe Acre Junior to be completed in August

A NEW £640,000 special educational unit is set to be provided at Thorpe Acre Junior School in Loughborough.

The standalone Communication and Interaction Unit will be built on the school site to accommodate 10 pupil places aged from seven to 11 years to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

A statement by Leicestershire County Council accompanying the proposals said:

“The development of more provision will help improve choice for parents/carers and pupils, and will have the added benefit of enabling pupils to be educated in their locality/community.

“Locally, and nationally, demand for SEND places has risen and forecasts for the next five years indicate demand will rise by up to 22%.”

The county council undertook a consultation on specialist provision early last year when schools were invited to submit bids to run a unit on their school site. Thorpe Acre Junior School submitted an application and were successful.

The statement said: “Leicestershire County Council proposes to increase the permanent capacity of Loughborough Thorpe Acre Junior School by 10 pupil places requiring SEND provision to meet the demand for school places in the Loughborough area, both at the current time and in the future.

“The project fulfils Leicestershire County Council’s statutory obligation of providing sufficient school places and to try to ensure pupils are able to attend their local primary school.

“The changes will also assist schools in improving educational standards by preventing excessive class sizes and will alsoensure parental choice is maintained through the provision of the additional places.

“It is not anticipated that there will be any effect on other schools, academies and educational establishments within the area.

“The project to build the 10 place Communication and Interaction Unit on the school site will cost £640,000.

“Project costs will be met from the Local Authority Capital programme.

“Long term value for money will be achieved by building to appropriate building and DfE requirements to ensure it can be used long term.

“It is proposed that Thorpe Acre Junior School will increase its SEND capacity by 10 pupil places with effect from August 24, 2020.”

The new school accommodation will be completed this August to enable the school to offer the number of available places for the 2020/21 school year.

Consultations on the proposals are underway and the closing date for comments and objections is June 24.