(UK) Chapel Hill: Special school expands to meet "growing need"; officials 'so excited' 'thrilled'

Oct 26, 2021, The Star: Chapel House, Hillsborough Barracks: School opens new site after quadrupling in size https://www.thestar.co.uk/education/chapel-house-hillsborough-barracks-school-opens-new-site-after-quadrupling-in-size-3433431

E. coast of England Becton School – an Ofsted Outstanding hospital school for young people with medical and mental health needs – has opened its new site at Chapel House, Hillsborough Barracks. The new site is mainly supporting young people with mental health needs and bosses say it allows for an increase in places, as part of the city’s response to this growing need, hastened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Becton already runs educational centres at the main Sheffield Children’s Hospital site and at the Becton Centre in Beighton. The addition of the new site also frees up space for Becton’s Kenwood provision to expand – a specialist education offer for young people with autism and mental health needs in Nether Edge. Becton executive headteacher James Gibson said: “We know there are more young people with mental health needs that need the right offer. We also know we can provide that so long as we have the right space. Chapel House is a wonderful place to further develop our curriculum and to continue improving the outcomes and realising the potential of our amazing young people. Our students are already making the most of it and crucially we know there is some space for a further growth in numbers in the coming months.” Warren Carratt, chief executive of Nexus Multi-Academy Trust, which runs the school, said: “We are so excited to be opening this much-needed provision in such a fantastic new space. "We are thrilled to be working with our families, Sheffield City Council, and Sheffield Children’s Hospital to co-produce the new provision and bring some much needed capacity for children and young people with mental health needs in the region.” Over the past four years, Becton school has grown considerably and the number of pupils it supports has almost quadrupled. Initially it worked solely with patients at the Becton Centre for Children and Young People, a residential children’s mental health unit. It now encompasses four other separate sites each working with a different group of pupils.