St Neots: Samuel Pepys School £10.7m expansion will increase SEND provision

The £10.7m expansion of Samuel Pepys Special School in St Neots will see it get 63 additional spaces by October 2024

A £10.7m expansion of a school to enhance provision for children with special needs (SEND) has begun.

Samuel Pepys School in St Neots, Cambridgeshire is getting a new block for Foundation stage and Key Stage 1, a new main entrance, meeting room, dining hall and kitchen.

The plans also include new landscaping and play areas, together with staff parking and drop-off facilities.The work is due to be completed by the end of October 2024.

The school, currently provides specialist education for 102 pupils aged 3-19 who have moderate, severe or complex learning disabilities.

It is one of five which is benefitting from more than £60m from Cambridgeshire County Council for SEND provision and the completed work will see the number of places increase to 165.

Head teacher Joanne Hardwick said the project would bring "much-needed additional spaces and capacity"

The existing school buildings will also be refurbished and adapted to meet the needs of the school, including the post-16 wing at The Bargroves.

Headteacher, Joanne Hardwick, said the project would bring "much needed additional spaces and capacity" for children and young people with SEND in the surrounding area. .

"There will, no doubt, be much excitement for the pupils seeing cranes and diggers working on our new school building and we are all looking forward to benefitting from new spaces in which to learn, work and play."Councillor Bryony Goodliffe, chair of the county council's children and young people's committee said it was a "much-needed expansion".

"Members and officers have been working exceptionally hard to tackle the shortage of special needs places in the county and the expansion of Samuel Pepys school will go a long way to addressing the problem in St Neots," she said.

Follow East of England news on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Got a story? Email [e-mail] or WhatsApp us on 0800 169 1830