Maidenhead & Windsor

A major education development in the Windsor and Maidenhead Royal Borough will take an important step forward this week if cabinet gives its final approval for the building of a brand new school for children with special educational needs.

The Windsor and Maidenhead council’s proposal for a purpose-built, state-of-the-art replacement for the existing Holyport Manor Special School has been through a full public consultation and, backed by £23.6 million of pledged government funding, is set to become a reality.

Meeting on Thursday (August 23), cabinet looks set to give the green light to the ambitious project on a site off Cannon Lane at Cox Green and, provided it achieves planning permission and work goes ahead on schedule, the school will be open by 2010.

Cllr Eileen Quick, lead member for Windsor and Maidenhead children’s services, said that cabinet’s approval would be a fitting tribute to the late Cllr Elizabeth Hawkes who was passionate in her support of the new school.

Cllr Quick said: “Building a ‘new Holyport Manor’ was a mission dear to Elizabeth’s heart. She wanted to achieve the very best educational facilities for children with special needs and was a doughty fighter for this project to go ahead.”

The current buildings at Holyport Manor are no longer fit for purpose and the proposed new school in the heart of an established educational community would offer children and young people:

* fully accessible buildings
* access to a broader and more balanced curriculum with learning opportunities suited to their needs
* inclusion within the local community
* greater opportunities for pupils to access lessons in local mainstream schools and easier access to specialist teaching
* opportunities for children from nearby schools to use the new facilities
* more extensive vocational opportunities for 14–19-year-olds.

The new school would also include accessible and safe residential accommodation for 32 children.

Windsor and Maidenhead Cllr Quick said she was thrilled by this rare prospect of achieving top quality facilities that would benefit children and young people from across the borough.

She said: “To have secured government funding means we can make a significant contribution to education in our borough. Of course, we have important planning processes ahead but I feel confident that, come 2010, we will have a school to be proud of and where the fine educational traditions and standards set by Holyport Manor will be taken forward into an exciting new era.”

Robert Williams, chair of governors at Holyport Manor, said he was delighted with the continuing progress and eagerly anticipating the idea becoming a reality. He added that he was looking forward to the ongoing involvement of governors, staff and parents in the development of the new school.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families grant, announced in March this year, is from the Building Schools for the Future: One School Pathfinder initiative. It follows a council submission to build the new special school as a centre of excellence on the same education campus as Cox Green Secondary and Lowbrook Primary schools. The new school would have its own access, yet be part of the existing education community.

The full designs for the new school will be made available to the public as part of the normal planning application process.

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead