Essex school’s temporary classrooms ‘among worst in county’ set for …

Temporary classrooms described as being among the worst in Essex are set to be demolished as part of plans to expand a special needs school in Wickford. Essex County Council’s plans for Castledon School includes a new two storey teaching block consisting of eight general classrooms and a 180 square metre sports hall.

The proposed new build and internal adaptations at Castledon School will increase the capacity of years one to 11 from 114 to 196 pupils. The sixth form are taught in a separate block. Work is due to start in November 2023 and finish in October 2024. Essex County Council ^[1] says there is increased need for provision for children and young people with moderate learning difficulties in south Essex and the need to replace temporary classrooms, which have reached the end of their life, will place “considerable pressure” on Castledon School if not addressed.

In 2021 Essex County Council said its SEND operations team has faced an “unprecedented situation” with a need now to provide additional capacity in the team to deliver the authority’s statutory duties. The council report said the authority received 223 requests for education, health and care (EHC) assessments in 2020 once covid struck – up from 197 per month in 2018/19.

Demand for places at the school has grown putting pressure on the school’s infrastructure – the school is dependent on the temporary classrooms to accommodate existing pupils and without the new facilities Essex County Council will no longer be able to meet current needs and have no capacity within the existing building for the forecast increased pupil population.

Essex County Council says if the new accommodation is not provided, Essex County Council would not be able to fulfill its statutory responsibility to provide appropriate school places for children with severe learning difficulties. Current and future pupils attending the school will “benefit from purpose-built accommodation that caters for their needs and enables the school to continue teaching the pupils as well as preparing them for their adult life beyond statutory education”, Essex County Council has said.

A statement as part of papers to be discussed by Essex County Council when it meets next week to agree the plans said: “Surveys of temporary classrooms known to be in poor condition were completed over summer 2019 across the county. The temporary classrooms at Castledon School were deemed amongst the worst condition in the county and in need of urgent replacement. There is evidence that significant investment would be required to ensure the temporary units are safe, which would only prolong their usable life for a brief period of time.

“This accommodation cannot be written off and simply removed as the capacity of the school would then be reduced, and this would not be a sustainable or acceptable solution. In addition, there is a risk that the temporary planning permissions that are extant on these units could be refused by the county planning authority as the need is no longer temporary, but a permanent need requiring a permanent built solution. Therefore, these temporary classrooms construction works at Castledon School, Wickford should be replaced as soon as possible with fit-for-purpose permanent accommodation.”

References

^{^} Essex County Council (www.essexlive.news)
^{^} Essex faces ‘unprecedented situation’ as 220 requests lodged per month for special needs support due to covid (www.essexlive.news)