A bid to build two new special schools in Gloucestershire

Gloucestershire County Council’s is preparing an application to the Department for Education to establish two new special schools through the recently launched ‘wave bid’ process. These new schools would be in addition to Brook Academy which opened in September 2022 and the new primary special school in Stroud expected to open in September 2023.

Our forecasting analysis identifies the need for two 200-place schools providing for children with Moderate and Additional Learning Difficulties (MALD) and also being able to meet the needs of children with other, additional and significant, secondary needs. We anticipate the schools to be an all through provision up to and including year 11.

We are committed to ensuring a sufficiency of special school places and our proposal supports our locally agreed strategies.

If our bid is successful, it is intended that the schools would be centrally located within the county and adjacent to the major population centres across Gloucester and Cheltenham, with realistic travel from other parts of the county.  Exact sites within Gloucestershire are yet to be fully confirmed.

We will be hosting an online Open Engagement Event on the 14 October 2022 at 10.00am (via MS Teams) which will provide an opportunity for people to learn more about the proposal.

If you would like to attend our online event, please email consultation@premieradvisory.co.uk with the subject line ‘Gloucestershire new schools’ and you will be emailed a link to join the meeting.

Further information is available on Support for Families with SEND, Gloucestershire’s Local Offer.