Hampshire welcomes plans for a new special school in Whiteley

The new free special school will be in Whiteley and will be 125-place, co-educational school for four to 16-year-olds with severe learning disabilities.

As part of Hampshire’s SEND Strategy for 2023-2027, the county council bid to the Department for Education for two new free special schools under this programme – one in Whiteley and one in Boorley Gardens.

Councillor Steve Forster, the council’s executive member for education, said: ‘The county council has a statutory duty to ensure all children can access high-quality education, including those with special educational needs and disabilities. This is an area that has seen immense pressure over several years, with an increasing number of children requiring SEND provision. We are committed to further developing this across the county to respond to growing demand, creating much needed additional SEND school places.

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‘We are delighted that our application for a new free special school in Whiteley has been provisionally approved by the DfE and we will be working closely with the department to progress this through the next steps in the process.’

Although the application for Boorley Gardens was unsuccessful, the council’s own Children’s Services Capital Programme will fund this scheme.

In regards to the Whiteley school, land has already been made available and the plans will now proceed to the second stage of the application process, which will see academy trusts invited to apply to sponsor the school.