New Send school given £20m funding boost

Plans to build a new school for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) has received an extra £20m in funding.

The funding, approved by Gloucestershire County Council, will go towards the 200-pupil school in Alstone Croft, Cheltenham.

It is hoped the school, which will cater for primary and secondary pupils, will open in 2028.

Council leader Stephen Davies said: "We are committed to making sure children and young people in our county get the specialist education they need at a school closer to where they live."

He said the £20m investment would bring the number of new special school places up to 540 since 2022.

The council said there continued to be an increasing need for Send school places in Gloucestershire, with the shortage leading to some children travelling to schools out of the county or to independent schools to have their educational needs met, said the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The council has invested about £50m to extend the number of special school places in Gloucestershire, with a further £2.7m used to create additional places at existing special schools across the county.

Two new Send schools, Brook Academy in Brockworth and Sladewood in Stroud, have already opened, with one more planned for Gloucester at Wheatridge East.

The council said it would work closely with Cheltenham Borough Council and the Parent Carer Forum to make sure residents and parents in the Send community could give feedback on plans for the school.

It said the building would be designed to operate at net-zero carbon emissions, in line with the county council's pledge to reduce Gloucestershire's carbon emissions to net-zero by 2030.

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