New free school plans revealed

PLANS . . . Kingfisher Community School in Chadderton.

PLANS to open a new 140-place special school in Oldham have been submitted to the Department of Education.

Kingfisher Community School is hoping to create the new school on its existing site at Foxdenton Lane, Chadderton alongside the present school for children with complex and severe learning needs.

If approved, the new school will be called Halcyon Way and will open in September 2017, for children with severe to moderate learning needs.

Kingfisher is oversubscribed and a lack of provision for children with severe to moderate needs has been identified by education chiefs. Kingfisher believes opening a new free school is the best way to address the problem.

The Education Funding Agency, which manages £54billion of funding a year to support state-provided education, would ultimately decide where it would be built and would provide the funding.

If the application is approved, the next stage will be a rigorous interview with the Department for Education.

Kingfisher Community Special School headteacher Anne Redmond said: “We are really excited to take this opportunity of applying to open a new special school. In Oldham there is a group of children for whom there is no specialist provision.

“Learning opportunities will be personalised, innovative and creative. The development of basic skills through early intervention strategies will give children the greatest life-chances and enable them to become as independent as possible.”

The recently-published Oldham Education and Skills Commission (OESC) Report made 19 recommendations including one to specifically recognise the capacity issues within the special school sector and the lack of provision for children with severe to moderate learning needs.

Kingfisher was supported through the application process by national education charity New Schools Network.