(UK) Malvern: $7.8M for 120 place autism school
- The end of childhood
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Feb 8, 2026, Cotswold Journal: Worcestershire rejects £5.7m offer to scrap autism school
EDUCATION bosses have rejected a £5.7 million offer from the government to scrap plans for a new autism school.
The Department for Education (DfE) is funding a new 120-place special free school in Malvern.
In December it offered Worcestershire County Council a choice to either continue with the school project or take the cash to spend on increasing the number of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) places in mainstream schools.
West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin said she feared the government was “backing away” from its commitment to provide a new school.
But the council is pushing for the project to go ahead.
At a cabinet meeting on Thursday (February 5), education chief Stephen Foster said the council would “reject the £5.7m [$7.8M] and request the DfE deliver the special free school in Malvern at the earliest opportunity”.
Cllr Foster said: “The DfE originally promised a SEND school for September 2026 - that’s seven months away.”
Adam Johnston, strategic director of children’s services for the council, told a scrutiny meeting last month he had met with the DfE and been told the school may not be built until 2029.
“Many free schools have been cancelled across the country and regionally as well,” he said. . . .
“Some children cannot be educated in mainstream schools and this helps meet their needs.”
Plans for the new school, which will cater for children with autism aged between five and 19, were first unveiled in 2023 and approved by cabinet the following year. . . .
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