Nov 7, 2021, Gazette : "Outstanding" Wyre special school to provide more places for pupils on new site https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/education/outstanding-wyre-special-school-to-provide-more-places-for-pupils-on-new-site-3448362
NW England
A special school in Wyre which is rated as outstanding is set to expand onto a new site almost two miles away from its main building.
Red Marsh School on Holly Road in Thornton-Cleveleys will create an additional 30 places by establishing a so-called “satellite” facility at Northfold Community Primary School on Ringway. It will bring the total number of pupils at Red Marsh to 124.
Lancashire County Council’s cabinet has given the go-ahead to the plan following a consultation with interested parties from both schools. That came after a recent study found a need for more special school spaces in the Wyre and Fylde areas….
Cabinet members were told that there were a “very limited number of respondents who disagreed with the proposal [who] raised concerns about the additional demands that would be placed on staff if the school were to be based on two sites”.
The satellite provision to be created at Northfold will be run as part of Red Marsh, which is over-subscribed for its current 94 places.
The school caters for children and young people between the ages of two and 19 who have severe, profound and multiple learning difficulties and autism spectrum conditions. It has been judged to be “outstanding” by Ofsted for the past decade.
Cabinet member for community and cultural services Peter Buckley - who, in a previous career, gave music lessons at Red Marsh - described it as a “fantastic school” which does “good work”.
Deputy council leader Alan Vincent welcomed the use of Northfold as a “win-win”, stating that “parking and traffic problems in and around Sacred Heart School and Red Marsh are not easy to cope with”….
“The creation of three additional classrooms will allow us to help more children and young people to benefit from the support provided by this school enabling them to achieve their full potential….
