Ambitious plans revealed to create new special school for Dorset
The St Mary's site near Shaftesbury could cater for 280 youngsters
Ambitious plans have been unveiled for the former St Mary’s School near Shaftesbury.
Dorset Council who bought the site want to use it to create better educational opportunities for Dorset children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
It could see 280 new school places created for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Dorset Council's preferred option is to create a special school for approximately 280 children and young people, aged from 4-19 years, which would be the centrepiece of a wider inter-generational campus, potentially offering educational and community facilities for Dorset children and adults.
The council's hope is that this facility could allow more pupils to receive educational provision closer to home.
Dorset Council is also open to considering alternative uses for the site such as a respite care centre, a training and conferencing suite and an innovation centre for a start-up businesses.
Currently, there are 250 children in the county going to independent special schools because there isn’t enough space at council-run schools. It’s estimated it costs around £60,000 to send each child to an independent school.
This compares to about £22,000 for similar provision at one of Dorset’s excellent special schools. Costs have grown by around £6.7 million a year since 2015 and this year independent SEND provision is likely to cost more than £14million.
Cllr Spencer Flower, Leader of Dorset Council, said:
“We are very ambitious for this site and for our children and young people who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). St Mary’s has amazing facilities and we believe it could be used to provide excellent educational opportunities closer to home.
“Pupils with SEND often have to travel far outside Dorset, as we do not currently have enough provision for them. This costs around £14 million a year, as buying independent, external provision is far more expensive. We believe creating a school with high quality facilities closer to home would be better for our children and young people and could also save money in the future.
“It is worth noting that opportunities to secure sites like this for Dorset are very rare. It would cost a great deal more, and take several years, to build such a wonderful facility like this from scratch. This is a clear example of investing to save. St Mary’s has been well maintained and has lots of amazing modern facilities.
“We now want to work with local people and groups to create a great facility that will be a community, and perhaps an educational resource, for Dorset. It is a fantastic place set in substantial grounds of about 55 acres. It offers exciting potential for many other community uses too. Please complete the short survey today and share your views, thank you.”
St Mary’s is currently a large, well-equipped school, which was run as a private school until last summer. It is set within large grounds and has extensive educational facilities. The buildings date from the early 20th century to the 21st century, however despite appearances, it is not a historic building.
The funding for the purchase of the St Mary’s site has come from Dorset Council’s capital budget, and the use of the site is expected to offset revenue expenditure that would otherwise be incurred elsewhere by the council. The purchase is part of the council’s five year £145million capital programme which is financed through a combination of Government grants and money from the sale of assets.