A Greenwich school has applied for planning permission to build a two-storey block to serve as an area to help “vulnerable students with complex needs”. St Mary Magdalene C of E All Through School claims it spends £150,000 a year putting its students into alternative provision and the school wants to build a new on-site facility at its peninsula campus because options in the borough of Greenwich are both “scarce and expensive”.
The new building, which aims to accommodate 50 to 55 students in total with special educational needs, would contain five classrooms, toilet facilities, a tea point and two staff offices. It would be situated to the north west of the 1 Hendon Street site on a plot of land currently used as an informal car park.
St Mary Magdalene hopes that the new classroom block would ease pressure on its finances and help provide certain pupils in its secondary division and sixth form with the support they need. That support would include counselling, therapy and teaching in small groups or on a one to one basis.
Planning documents state: “There is a clear need to provide additional accommodation at the school for the purpose of supporting students with special educational needs.
“Representatives from the school have confirmed that the current demand for such facilities far outstrips supply and finding alternative provision off site comes with a significant price tag. Extending the current school to provide this service on site will add capacity to the system and be more cost effective.”
St Mary Magdalene hopes that if planning permission is granted, it can begin construction on the classrooms this summer so they could be ready for the start of the new academic year in September.
Despite their modular nature, the school intends the new facility to be a permanent one and has stated: “The nature of modular construction allows for ease of removal should the requirement or demand for such a facility change over time.”
The school is also hopeful that the new facility would ease pressure on alternative provision for other schools in Greenwich. Planning documents state: “There are more pupils who need this type of provision for short periods of time than there is capacity and it is evident that the current setup is not effective or sustainable as a long-term solution.
“By providing on site provision, the school will be able to redirect the money to other areas of need as well as free up spaces in the local authority area for other students from other schools.”
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