A PRIMARY school will expand its provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities thanks to a £950,000 council-funded project.
The expansion of Lyde Green Primary School’s access centre to become a resource base was added to South Gloucestershire Council’s capital programme by its cabinet in July.
At the same time the council also approved a new £19 million two-form entry primary school on the Berwick Green development at Cribbs Patchway New Neighbourhood, to deliver the new school as the first families move in.
The Lyde Green plans require final approval from the Department for Education and would be funded from the council’s High Needs Capital Grant from the government.
The authority says the expansion will increase the number of children who can attend, allow them to learn there for longer, and widen the range of needs that could be supported.
A second Lyde Green Primary School site is due to open next September, but the resource base will continue to be on the current site.
Lyde Green Primary School head teacher Tom Hutchings said: “We are very proud of the specialist Access Centre at Lyde Green, which since 2017 has supported a small number of pupils aged 4-7 with significant Special Educational Needs.
“The profile of pupils with additional needs is changing both locally and nationally, so we have been working with South Gloucestershire Council to develop proposals to expand and evolve the existing Access Centre into a Resource Base for pupils aged 4-11.
“As this involves remodelling and extending the existing centre, the proposals will take several years to implement, and so pupils currently in the Access Centre will not be affected.
“Over the coming months we will be developing the proposals further and consulting with the community before any final decisions are taken.”
The Cribbs Causeway project is being funded by contributions from developers building homes.
Council cabinet member for education Ian Boulton said: “I am really pleased to see these two projects moving forward.
“In recent months we’ve had to work hard to get capital projects progressing that are vital to meet needs where new homes are being built; families are moving in and now we have vital promised infrastructure like schools being delivered.
“We’ve been able to get projects like the new primary and secondary schools for Lyde Green underway and on track, and now we can move ahead and really build for the future.
“The expanded Resource Base at the existing primary school in Lyde Green will allow more children to get a place there.
“It will broaden the range of needs that can be supported there, and it will allow those children to stay in the school for longer, so they don’t have to change schools part-way through their primary years.”