(UK) Notts: "Additional 110 specialist school places required"; possible new special school
- The end of childhood
- 7 hours ago
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Dec 21, 2025, Notts Live: Nottingham ‘ghost’ school could be transformed - but it may end up costing £6m [$8M]
Transforming a long-delayed ‘ghost’ school so children with special educational needs can be taught there could end up costing £6 million [$8M].
The 210-place Waterside Primary School, featuring a nursery, was due to open on the growing Trent Basin estate in September 2024.
However, the school failed to open as planned due to “extremely low” pupil numbers, prompting a rethink as to how it should be used.
In March this year, Nottingham City Council announced that it would convert the school to accommodate children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). . . .
The documents say the delivery of the entire project is now expected to cost £6 million [$8M]. In March, the council had anticipated needing £2 million [$2.7M] to open the site. . . .
In a bid to increase places for SEND children, the council had planned to spend £10 million [$13M] expanding Rosehill Special School by 2027, but it will now re-route funding to redevelop the vacant Waterside building into a “state-of-the-art” special school facility.
The council’s SEND strategy indicates that an additional 110 specialist school places are required, and 90 of these will be created through the transformation of the vacant school at Trent Basin.
The remaining 30 places will be delivered on other sites yet to be confirmed.
“The proposed works that are set out are essential to support the authority achieving the required specialist school placements as set out in the SEND sufficiency plan 2023 to 2028,” documents say.
“Failure to make timely provision poses a significant risk to the high needs budget moving to a deficit budget position.
“The expansion of maintained specialist provision plays an integral role in mitigating against this risk and improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND.” . . .
When the Department of Education opted against funding the school’s original opening, the trust says it had to “reluctantly” pull out. . . .
The council has previously considered other locations, including the former Glenbrook Management Centre site, a former mental health centre in Bilborough that was subsequently demolished.
However, this option was rejected, with council officers concluding the Waterside Primary School site is more suitable and would deliver a greater number of specialist places at a lower cost.
The council is expected to make a formal decision in the summer of 2026 to support the “significant change."
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