This is the first glimpse of how Stockport’s ‘modern, fresh and undisputedly contemporary’ new £17m special school could look. Dubbed Pear Tree Academy, the secondary school includes places for up to 133 pupils with profound, severe and multiple learning difficulties, as well as those with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD).
Plans for the ‘much-needed’ specialist facility - to be built on the vacant former Orrishmere Primary School site, in Cheadle Hulme - have now been submitted by Spatial Initiative Ltd, on behalf of the Department for Education. It comes after the council successfully bid for government cash to create a new SEN (Special Educational Needs) school in the borough.
While funded by the government, the academy will be a ‘free school’ run by Prospere Learning Trust, which has four other schools in south Manchester. Planning documents say the design of the school brings a ‘modern, fresh and undisputedly contemporary approach’, which would ‘enhance the site and breathe a breath of fresh air into the site which has fallen into a state of disrepair in recent years’.
As Stockport does not currently have enough SEN places, each year several children are sent out-of-borough for their education. Bosses are also predicting an eight pc increase in the number of youngsters who will need an education, health and care plan (EHCP).
The new school is expected to save the council £30k per pupil, per year - or £150,000 over the course of their secondary education - as well as benefiting children and their families.
Planning papers add: “This proposal will address the shortfalls of SEN places in the borough. After an assessment of the development, against adopted and emerging policies, we are firmly of the view that this development will substantially enhance the area by delivering much needed social infrastructure to the borough.”
And while the school would involve building on ‘local open space’, it is argued this should be outweighed by ‘the acute need to deliver a fit-for-purposes SEN facility’. The new largely one-storey building is intended to have a ‘calming and welcoming appearance for pupils’, while not harming the character of the surrounding area.
A single C-shaped block, it would be located centrally within the site, allowing school access to several outside teaching spaces, said to be ‘crucial’ for pupils with special needs. These include external classroom spaces, a Multi-Use Games Area (MUGA), a forest school and a habitat area.
Most of the teaching space needs to be at ground level, as this is ‘cornerstone’ of Prospere Learning Trust’s offer. It is key to helping children to improve and also meets various needs, including social, emotional and mental health.
The ground floor will include classrooms, support rooms and administrative space, as well as a large dining hall, a sports hall and a group room. However, there will be an upper level boasting specialist classrooms for music, art and science, as well as smaller specialist spaces and staff rooms.
Planning papers say the design aims to ‘strike the correct balance’ between providing ground floor facilities at the school and respecting the residential area and open space.Vehicles will enter the site via the existing access to Worcester Road, with an additional exit gate effectively creating a one-way system.
There would also be a separate pedestrian gate on Worcester Road. A drop off zone for buses, blue badge and visitor parking would be located to the north of the site, while a staff car park would be provided to the west.
In total there will be 48 parking spaces, 12 cycle spaces and two minibus bays. The plans also include nine minibus drop-off bays. Stockport council will make a decision on whether to grant planning permission for the scheme.
Read more of today's top stories here
READ NEXT:
