Newton Abbot schools £250,000 extension bid championed by Town Council

Newton Abbot schools £250,000 extension bid championed by Town Council

MEMBERS of Abbot Town Council have agreed to forward a £250,000 request for additional facilities at a local primary school having heard that demand for specialist support is outstripping supply.

Claire Redwood, Headteacher at the 300-pupil Highweek Primary School, wrote to the authority, asking for a grant from the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), a fund that uses developers cash to improve neighbourhoods.

Ms Redwood and her deputy Dawn Matthews, said in their CIL Bid Form, that Highweek supports ‘a very high number’ of children needing Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP).

The result, they said, is a demand for sensory and emotional regulation ‘that has to be managed constantly throughout the day’

They described a situation in which ‘staff are working above and beyond doing their best with the resources they have available to them’ and that the current sensory provision was now ‘struggling to keep up with the level of need.’

Their solution is a proposed £250,000 extension to reduce overcrowding, lower sensory overload, minimise classroom disruption and improve safeguarding.

In her bid, Ms Redwood said that Devon County Council had been approached for financial support but it had been ‘unable to fund at a school level despite our disproportionate level of pupils with significant needs.’

She added that the school’s reputation for delivering ‘exceptional outcomes’ for pupils had attracted a ‘significantly higher proportion of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) than many other schools in the local area.’

Having stated that her ‘experienced and highly skilled’ teachers and support staff were now limited in their ambitions by inadequate facilities she said: ‘Ultimately this project is an investment not only in a building, but in the futures of the children, families and communities it will serve for many generations to come.’

Members of the Town Council were informed of the bid by Clerk Phil Rowe at their September 30 meeting but he reminded them that CIL applications of this scale were outside their scope.

He said: ‘It’s a shame that a local school has to apply for CIL for such an important project but Devon insists that they will not support and fund this application.’

Cllr Colin Parker said: ‘I’m very much mindful of what the clerk has said and that this council is not in a position to look at this bid, we should send it on to Teignbridge.’

Cllr Mike Ryan said: ‘Please write to Devon, they should be funding this.’

Other members expressed similar concerns about the County Council’s position and agreed they could at least forward the bid to Teignbridge on the school’s behalf.