Establishment of a new special free school to open in 2026

Gloucestershire County Council intends to establish a new special school to open in 2026 and will soon be launching a competition process to invite Academy Trusts to apply to run the new school.

Gloucestershire County Council’s Cabinet has given approval for officers to begin the process of establishing a new special school.

In order to ensure there are sufficient special school places to meet local demand it is intended to establish a new 200 place special free school to meet the needs of children and young people aged 4-16 years with Moderate and Additional Learning Difficulties (MALD). The school will be expected to meet the needs of children with complex learning profiles and a range of needs not limited to Moderate Learning Difficulties.

The Council will be launching a competition later this month to identity a suitably experienced Academy Trust to run the new school which will open, subject to planning approval, at a site in Gloucester in a newly constructed and thoughtfully designed building.

A detailed specification document will be available to view at www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/new-special-school-gloucester when the competition launches on 18 September 2023 and the closing date for applications will be 8 November.

In order to express an interest and find out more, Trusts are invited to contact either Nathan Roe (Education Planning Manager) on 01452 427262 or via email at nathan.roe@gloucestershire.gov.uk or Tracy Oosthuizen (SEND Sufficiency Manager) on 01452 427200 or via email at tracy.oosthuizen@gloucestershire.gov.uk.