Nov 23, 2022, Surrey Live: Plans launched for 'desperately needed' Dorking special educational needs school https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/plans-launched-desperately-needed-dorking-25584546
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Residents are being asked for their comments on a "desperately needed" school for children with special educational needs in Dorking. Plans for Betchwood Vale Academy have been submitted to Mole Valley District Council, an area where 86 per cent of autistic children and young people are educated outside of their district.
The school, which would ultimately be for for 180 pupils, could be built on the former Chalcraft Nursery garden centre site, which has been empty for several years. A previous application by the Department for Education for a school on the site was withdrawn in April 2021.
The current application, also put in by the DfE, could be decided by Mole Valley councillors early in 2023, with the school opening at the earliest for the 2024/5 school year. As well as the high number of autistic children leaving the district for their education, 90 per cent travel more than six miles to school more than in neighbouring areas and in Surrey as a whole, according to a release on the project.
One parent commenting on the council's website in support of the school said a lack of suitable provision for children with special educational needs meant the school was "desperately needed". Lisa Stockdale said: "We currently travel ten miles in one direction from home and eight miles in the opposite direction to take our children to school. These schools are so hard to secure, or if the provision isn’t right moving schools is impossible due to the lack of spaces. Surrey need to make every effort to provide more schools."…
Tudor Thomas, chairman of the Ladyegate Road Residents Association Ltd, said: "A preferred use of the Chalcroft nursery site would be as a much-needed extension to the nearby Dorking Cemetery." The school will specialise in education for high-functioning autistic children between seven and 19 years old, providing places for around 60 children in its first year and going up to 180 children by 2028/29. It will be part of The Howard Partnership Trust group of schools….
Betchwood Vale school for children with autism could be built in Dorking. Image from Design and Access statement. Credit: Jestico + Whiles Associates Ltd. (Image: Jestico + Whiles Associates Ltd)