Chain to run new school for special needs

AN ACADEMY chain has been chosen to run a new special educational needs school set to be built in South Yorkshire.

The school, which will provide 100 places and be based on land at Hungerhill Enterprise Park in Edenthorpe, near Doncaster, will be administered by Maltby-based Nexus Multi Academy Trust.

In a report seen by Doncaster Council’s cabinet members, the school will cost around £7.24m to build. Council bosses are in negotiations with the Government’s Education and Skills Funding Agency to secure the money for the project.

Education bosses at Doncaster Council had previously identified a shortfall in provision within the borough for specialist places for young people complex needs, such as pupils with “high functioning autism spectrum disorder and Asperger’s syndrome”.

The Department for Education invited councils in 2016 to establish new special schools in their area and a new SEN school bid was put forward in November 2016 for children with a communication and interaction need aged five to 19.

The bid included provision of a site for the school by the council on the basis of a peppercorn rent with a 125-year lease. The provision is to provide up to 80 places for use by Doncaster Council, as well as 20 places for usage by pupils in Sheffield, Rotherham and Barnsley.

The council was notified of its successful bid in May 2017 and hopes to formally hand over the school to the academy chain to open in September 2019. Doncaster historically had a special school for autistic children at Rossington Hall. It was closed in 2008 as part of a re-organisation.