School project to provide up to 70 new SEND spaces

A multi-million-pound project to provide more opportunities for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has got under way in Stoke-on-Trent.

The £11.5m scheme will see a new satellite facility created for the existing Watermill School in Packmoor.

The city council said the new building complex would help more children get the education and support they needed closer to their homes.

The new facilities, on Turnhurst Road, are expected to accommodate up to 70 pupils.

A ground-breaking ceremony took place on Wednesday and building work is expected to be completed by next summer.

The new facilities were expected to open to pupils from September 2026 on the site of the former Middlehurst School, which was closed in 2014 and demolished in 2022.

"The Watermill School satellite will help expand on the vital work it does in creating an inclusive environment that values diversity and equality and provides strong foundations for pupils to thrive and accomplish their goals in life," said Sarah Jane Colclough, council cabinet member for education.

Watermill School became an academy in 2019 as part of the Orchard Community Trust, and was established to support pupils' aged from three to 16 years old.

All pupils at the school have learning difficulties, including some with physical and multiple learning difficulties and autism.

Colclough added that making sure that children could access the support they needed in their local communities was "really important" and that she was pleased to be increasing the number of SEND school places in the city.

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