Planning permission given for four new classrooms

The new classrooms will be built at Arbour Vale School in Slough

A school for pupils with special educational needs has been given the green light by planning permission officials to build four new classrooms.

Arbour Vale School in Slough caters for roughly 340 students aged between three and 19, with varying needs and disabilities.

The approval comes after the council agreed to rush through the new classrooms on June 6.

Planning permission documents note that "there is an under provision and lack of quality for SEN pupils throughout the country".

The new classrooms would be built in the outside area to the south of the principle building.

Arbour Vale was built for 240 pupils, but the council said in June it was a hundred children over capacity.

The new spaces will accommodate an additional 38 pupils, aged 11.

Councillor Puja Bedi, responsible for schools, said that not delivering these spaces for pupils would mean children would have to be sent to schools outside of Slough – with some very far away.

Council leaders agreed to spend just over £4m on building the classrooms, as well as a new car park funded by a government grant.

It is set to open on September 1 ahead of the new school year.