The Department for Education has been running a Local Authority Special School free school bid process and Plymouth City Council are delighted to have been successful. Our success enables us to open a competition inviting providers to submit applications to run a new special school in our area.
Plymouth has seven special schools, one of which is now part of a multi-academy trust and a range of Support Centres delivered by mainstream schools in a number of locations across the city.
Currently, there is a gap in special school provision in Plymouth for students with Autistic Spectrum Conditions (ASC) who are high functioning and/or extremely anxious and may have communication and interaction difficulties. The new special school provision would help to fill the gap for these children.
The new special school will be relatively small and will provide spaces for 60 children and young people. We would envisage the new special school opening on a phased intake over a three to four year period.
A link to our specification can be found below along with a link to the application guidance and application form.
You can find guidance and the application form via the Government website.
Provider stakeholder event
We are holding an event for anyone from a Trust who is interested in applying to run the new free special school. This will be an opportunity to hear more about our vision for the school and to ask any questions you may have.
The event will be on Wednesday 5th June 2019 at Windsor House, Tavistock Road, Plymouth from 1.30pm - 3.30pm.
If you are interested please register your interest on the Supplying the Southwest Portal
Due to space limitations, we are restricting the number of representatives from each Trust to 2 people.