SEND: New £14.4m Didcot school after funding agreed

The 120-place school in Didcot is set to be built in 2025 and is expected to open by 2027

A new £14.4m special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) school is set to be built in Oxfordshire.

The school in Didcot will teach up to 120 children with special educational needs related to autism and/or social, emotional and mental health.

Funding for the school, to be run by an academy trust, was agreed by Oxfordshire County Council on Tuesday.

Building work is set to start in 2025 with the school expected to open to pupils in 2026/27.

The cost of the new school will be met from grant funding.

The council said the school would be the first of two new special schools planned for the area, which would take the total number of Oxfordshire special schools to 17.

In September inspectors found Oxfordshire County Council was not meeting the needs of children requiring its help.

Ofsted found vulnerable young people in the county were being made to wait years for help or appropriate school places.

It led to the authority publishing an action plan.

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