Mar 9, 2022, Northumberland Gazette: Special school to move from Seghill to Ponteland https://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/education/northumberland-school-to-relocate-in-time-for-the-new-school-year-3603052
NE England
A Northumberland special school is moving to a £5.5m new base in Ponteland – and will admit girls for the first time.
County bosses have signed off on plans to relocate Atkinson House from its current home in Seghill to the Richard Coates CE Primary School’s vacant former building, in time for the start of the next academic year in September.
The move will see the number of much-needed places the school can offer increase from 80 to 100 and allow it to admit girls as well as boys – creating the first dedicated educational provision for girls in Northumberland with social, emotional and mental health needs.
The proposal was agreed at a Northumberland County Council meeting on Tuesday morning, following a consultation last year.
Coun Guy Renner-Thompson, the council’s portfolio holder for children and young people, said the move represented a £5.5m [$7.2M] investment in the disused Ponteland site in Thornhill Road and it was an “inevitable and much-needed step that we need to increase our capacity for children with extra educational needs”….
Paul Sampson, headteacher at Atkinson House, said the new building would provide not only more space to accommodate a growing number of pupils but also the “right environment to meet the needs of the children”. …
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