Plans for a £17m new special school that will ‘change lives’ in Stockport have been boosted by the ‘wholehearted support’ of local councillors. 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).
Proposals for the ‘much-needed’ specialist facility - to be built on the vacant former Orrishmere Primary School site, in Cheadle Hulme - will go before the council’s planning committee for approval on Thursday night. Local authority bosses are forecasting a shortfall of 120 secondary places for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) over the next five years.
Planners say the new school ‘would be a significant benefit’ given the number of children currently being sent out-of-borough for an education - saving the council £30k per pupil, per year - as well as benefiting children and their families. And members of Cheadle area committee threw their support behind the proposals at an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday night.
