A new special school must be built in Newcastle to cope with rapidly rising demand, an education boss has warned.
Councillors heard on Thursday that there is a “real pressing need” for new facilities if Newcastle children with extra needs are going to be educated within the city and are not forced to travel elsewhere. Mark Patton, Newcastle City Council’s assistant director for education and skills, confirmed that local authority bosses are already looking at potential sites where a new school could be housed.
However, he warned the council’s overview and scrutiny committee that three to five years would be a “conservative estimate” for the time it would take to open one, meaning that the pressure on special school places in the coming years was “very real”. In a report, Mr Patton said that there are significant pressures both for places in Newcastle’s special schools and specialist places in mainstream schools, particularly for children with autism and with social, emotional, and mental health needs.
