Disused Brighton building to become special school in £400k makeover

St George's House was used by the council's pupil referral unit last July but is currently empty

A disused building in Brighton will be refurbished to provide a school for children with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs.

St George's House, which was used as a pupil referral unit until last July, will undergo a £400,000 makeover.

Brighton and Hove City Council wants to use the Dyke Road site from September for secondary pupils.

They would otherwise be sent to Homewood College, which was rated 'inadequate' by Ofsted.

Despite being set to turn into an academy, Homewood looks increasingly likely to close.

A report to the council's children, families & schools committee said: "There is an academy order in place but no academy trust has been found that is willing to sponsor the school.

"Despite support to the school, serious issues remain and consequently the council proposes that pupils will no longer be placed there from September 2024 and will not be for the foreseeable future."

Sue Shanks said the council needed to make sure pupils were "going to be in a good place"

It added that the new provision for children with education, health and care plans for SEMH would need to open "quickly".

The Dyke Road site will offer a blend of tuition and alternative provision for pupils, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

"There would be significant adverse consequences if this site was not available, not only for pupils, but also in the costs of placing these pupils in the independent and non-maintained sector where fees are very much higher than in council provision," the report added.

But Green councillor Sue Shanks questioned the suitability of the building.

"I thought there was a decision not to use it any more and now we seem to be putting our most vulnerable children there. I don't understand the logic of that," she told a committee meeting last week.

"We may well have other classrooms in other schools because the schools' [admission] numbers are down."

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