Work has begun on expanding Northcott School as Hull City Council steps up its provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Last year, the council announced that £600,000 would be spent expanding the schools’ age range from 5-16 to 3-19, and increasing the number of its pupil places to 200.
Four extra classrooms will be created through new modular buildings.
Northcott School is located on Bransholme in the east of the city. Northcott is a special, co-educational school for pupils with Autism, Asperger’s, and social, communication learning difficulties within Hull and the wider local area.
The project is funded by the council via the Esteem partnership.
Hull construction company Houlton are contracted to carry out the work.
The units will be delivered and installed in a single day with the full installation is expected to take around a month. Whilst the fit out is underway, the footpaths and ramps will be finalised along with external landscaping. The school’s daily activities are not expected to be compromised at all by the work.
Councillor Linda Tock, portfolio holder for children’s services at Hull City Council said: “The council and its partners are committed to developing high-quality provision for Hull pupils with SEND. We want all children and young people with SEND to be healthy and happy, make friends, develop their confidence and independence and fulfill their potential. This investment will go a long way in helping our SEND pupils achieve these goals and I’m delighted to see plans starting to take shape.”
“Following Hull City Council’s inspection of Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) across the city, we’ve been working closely with the authority to produce a strategy to address the needs of children and young people who require this additional support. The expansion at Northcott School is just one way we’re assisting the authority in delivering extra places across the city, and builds on the progress made last year with Hull’s first purpose-built base within a mainstream school for children with Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC) at Broadacre Primary.”
Gavin Barley, General Manager, Hull Esteem, said: “Following Hull City Council’s inspection of Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) across the city, we’ve been working closely with the authority to produce a strategy to address the needs of children and young people who require this additional support. The expansion at Northcott School is just one way we’re assisting the authority in delivering extra places across the city, and builds on the progress made last year with Hull’s first purpose-built base within a mainstream school for children with Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC) at Broadacre Primary.”
The expansion forms part of the council’s wider strategy to improve and increase SEND provision. The Hull SEND Strategy 2020-2025 can be viewed here.
