The Alexandra school in South Harrow, which provides education to 80 students with learning difficulties, received almost 1 million in funds from the Harrow Council last year to be able to meet the growing demand for places.
The 30 additional spaces will be created at a cost of £ 32,000 per student, almost half of what it would cost if they had to be placed outside Harrow.
The classification of the ‘Outstanding’ school after its last inspection of Ofsted, last week, granted permission for the Harrow Council Planning Committee to build three extensions of a single plane, which will provide a new classroom, a food technology room and an extension room. The expansion will allow ten new staff members.
The expansion is expected to be ready for students to register in September of this year.
The president of the Committee and Vice President of the Council, Cllr Marilyn Ashton, said: “It is always good to see greater capacity and facilities in schools.”
The demand for special needs places in Harrow has shot in recent years, resulting in the Council to fight its legal duty to provide sufficient spaces.
A report published last year by the Director of Children’s Services of the Council suggested that not provide additional spaces would not only affect children who need special education, but also the demand for conventional schools.
Department of the complexity of their needs, the report states that the cost of absorption of placing a pupil of special needs outside the municipality is around £ 70,000 to £ 80,000. It is estimated that increasing the number of places in the municipality could save up to £ 1.3 million a year, with other £ 210000 saved from the special needs transport budget.
The number of special needs places has increased by 84 since 2019, according to the Council, with an additional provision created in the primary schools of Pinner Wood, Stanburn and Grange, as well as Belmont and Kingsley High School.
However, the demand at the Alexandra school is greater than the amount of current spaces, with preference of the parents for the increase of the welcome school.
