Gosberton House Academy specialist school awarded planning permission for expansion of facilities as part of a £100m upgrade

A specialist school has been given the green light to expand – with leaders ‘excited’ to get a share of a £100m countywide fund to try to help pupils with additional needs.

A planned application by Gosberton House Academy has been approved by South Holland District Council enabling the school to provide extra classrooms, upgrade its toilet and cloakroom facilities, parking and to provide a shared learning area for the existing number of pupils.

The area has suffered from a lack of special educational needs (SEN) places, leaving vulnerable children facing big commutes or long waits to get a place in a school.

Coun Patricia Bradwell OBE, executive member for children’s services, said: “The improvements at Gosberton House Academy are part of a £100m investment in Lincolnshire’s special schools.

“This ongoing project has created around 500 additional places and will mean that more pupils with SEND can attend their local school rather than having to travel large distances for their education.

“The planned improvements will help the schools meet the needs of a wider range of pupils and provide existing pupils with much improved facilities.”

The school, in Westhorpe Road, has received planning permission for the siting of two mobile classrooms and for a link unit to be built between them.

Planning permission has recently expired on its two existing temporary mobile classrooms and the intention of the application was to re-establish full planning permission along with the separate application for the unit link.

Rachael Wainwright issued a statement on Gosberton Academy’s plans as part of her role as senior administrator and clerk to the governors. It said: “As part of the ‘Building Communities of Specialist Provision: Special School Strategy’, Gosberton House Academy has been lucky enough to receive funding from the local authority to embark on a building project to create four new classrooms, therapy spaces and extend our school parking facilities.

“The proposed site is to the west of the existing main building and is away from our neighbours.

“The building will be made fit for purpose to ensure children at our school can reach their full potential and can be educated as close to home as possible.

“We are very excited about the new project and look forward to seeing it develop.

“Our children and our community will be fully involved in the project. We hope that the children will engage in designing, reporting, interviewing, photographing and role playing what they are observing.

“We are very mindful of our ECO School Green Flag status and we will ensure that the new building is integrated into our environment providing additional enrichments to our Forest School activities.”

There is no intention to increase the numbers of pupils within the school. The two mobile classrooms will continue to be used for their current purpose and will only be used by the pupils and within the current school’s core hours of operation.

The school provides a primary education for children with a range of specialist needs including learning, communication, sensory and social.

It is a specialist primary school mainly for children with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder and a small number of places are taken by pupils with sensory needs or additional learning needs.

The project is currently in the design stage, so a full estimated cost is not available at this time.

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