Jul 29, 2022, Manchester Evening News: 'Modern, fresh and undisputedly contemporary'... First glimpse of how new £17m [$20.5M] special school could look https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/modern-fresh-undisputedly-contemporary-first-24613383
NW England
This is the first glimpse of how Stockport’s ‘modern, fresh and undisputedly contemporary’ new £17m special school could look. Dubbed Pear Tree Academy, the secondary school includes places for up to 133 pupils with profound, severe and multiple learning difficulties, as well as those with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).
Plans for the ‘much-needed’ specialist facility - to be built on the vacant former Orrishmere Primary School site, in Cheadle Hulme - have now been submitted by Spatial Initiative Ltd, on behalf of the Department for Education. It comes after the council successfully bid for government cash to create a new SEN (Special Educational Needs) school in the borough…. As Stockport does not currently have enough SEN places, each year several children are sent out-of-borough for their education. Bosses are also predicting an eight pc increase in the number of youngsters who will need an education, health and care plan (EHCP).
The new school is expected to save the council £30k per pupil, per year - or £150,000 over the course of their secondary education - as well as benefiting children and their families.
Planning papers add: “This proposal will address the shortfalls of SEN places in the borough.
After an assessment of the development, against adopted and emerging policies, we are firmly of the view that this development will substantially enhance the area by delivering much needed social infrastructure to the borough.”…
Bird's-eye view of proposed Pear Tree Academy, in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport. (Image: Ellis Williams Architects.)
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