School expansion will cater for excluded pupils

Plans have been drawn up to expand an academy in Nottingham to create more places for permanently excluded pupils.

The city council is backing plans to expand Denewood Academy, in Forest Road West, by opening a satellite site at the former Aspley Community Training Centre.

Bosses said the council spends more than £12m a year educating excluded children, with more than half having special educational needs. They added there is a "shortage of suitable places driving rising costs and forcing some out-of-area placements".

Sarah Nardone, corporate director of children's and education services, said the measure will save the local authority £600,000.

The council said mainstream schools in the city "cannot meet the increasing complexity of needs of children" and special schools do not have enough space.

This has led to children being placed in expensive specialist schools outside Nottingham, with transport to their school costing significant sums, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

To counter this, the city council said it is looking to expand Denewood Academy, which is maintained by the Raleigh Education Trust.

Under the plans, all primary-aged children currently educated at Denewood Academy will be moved to the new school building, freeing up capacity for 30 more children up to the age of 16 to be educated on the main site.

Nardone said: "The average annual cost for an alternative provision placement is £37,200, compared to £17,000 for a placement at Denewood Academy.

"It will also increase the number of places available for permanently excluded children in an Ofsted-registered school."

The plans are set to be approved at a meeting of senior councillors on Tuesday 16 June.

In total, £1,707,053 will be spent on the expansion plans, split between up to £1,657,053 to be paid to the trust for the delivery of the works, and up to £50,000 to cover associated professional costs incurred by the council.

It is also subject to approval from the Department for Education, with the new site expected to open in the autumn.

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