(UK) NI: Plan would add 6,000 MORE special needs places in schools
- The end of childhood
- Sep 18
- 2 min read
Sept 17, 2025, BBC News: Van Morrison's former high school site to become special school
There are plans to create five new special school campuses across Belfast, including at Van Morrison's former high school in the east of the city.
That is according to a new Education Authority (EA) plan for 6,000 more places in special schools across Northern Ireland.
One of the new campuses - for 500 pupils - is planned for the former Orangefield High School but it is unlikely to be completed until 2032. . . .
The EA said there was a need for up to 6,000 more special school places by 2032, and it has looked at the increase needed in each council area.
Currently, there are just under 7,500 pupils in Northern Ireland's 40 special schools.
But Education Minister, Paul Givan, has said that "our special schools have reached capacity".
He has appealed for the executive to provide £1.7bn [$2.3B] of capital funding for special educational needs.
"This is a societal obligation, we all have children across our constituencies that require our support," he told the Good Morning Ulster programme.
. . .
Givan added the funding will also create 5,000 additional places for "mainstream" schools, on top of the 6,000 places for SEN.
The independent autism reviewer for Northern Ireland, Ema Cubitt, has urged the executive to deliver "meaningful change" for children with special educational needs. . . .
What's in the special schools plan?
The plan for the former Orangefield High School site to be turned into a new special school campus is among a range of plans included in the EA plan for special schools.
There are also plans to expand a number of other special schools in Belfast to meet a need for more than 600 additional school places in the city. . . .
All other special schools in greater Belfast have been identified as requiring more places and new school buildings or classrooms.
But, according to the EA, there is a need for more special school places for pupils right across Northern Ireland.
Ardnashee Special School in Londonderry, whose new building only opened in April 2025, is expected to have about 600 pupils by 2032, which will require a new building on a second site in the city.
Other special schools like Arvalee in Omagh, on the site of the Strule campus, have been identified as needing additional classrooms to increase pupil numbers.
In recent years, some children with special educational needs have had to wait well into the summer to get a school place.
Some of their families have held a number of protests at Stormont to draw attention to their plight.
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