Centre revamp to create more SEND school places

Clifton Young Persons Centre is set for a £675,000 revamp as part of efforts to create more places for SEND pupils

A centre for young people in Nottingham is set to be refurbished as part of a plan to create more school places for special needs pupils.

Nottingham City Council has approved a £675,000 revamp of Clifton Young Person's Centre, which will then become the new home of the sixth form for special needs school Nethergate Academy.

The sixth form move will free up space at Nethergate's Swansdowne Drive site, which will be used to create 16 special school places in the 2025/26 academic year and a further eight places in 2026/27.

The council says as well as providing more special school places, the plan should cut costs of both paying for places elsewhere and the associated transport.

Nethergate Academy's sixth form is set to be moved from its Swansdowne Drive site to Clifton Young People's Centre as part of efforts to create more SEND places

The refurbished young person's centre will also be used to provide youth club activities for members of the community in the evenings, at weekends and during school holidays.

A report issued by the council says: "Nottingham is experiencing considerable growth in the number of young people identified as having special educational needs and disabilities and there is an urgent, significant and increasing need for additional capacity to meet this demand.

"By developing the SEND estate within the city, rather than sending children out of the city, there will be an increased volume of placements available.

"By having more placements within the city, we avoid the cost of more expensive independent and non-maintained special school placements, additional SEND transport costs and allow pupils to be taught in their own city and closer to home."