New boys-only school to open at end of month in Great Yarmouth

A new school for special educational needs and disability (SEND) pupils is set to open in Great Yarmouth by the end of September.

Bure Park Specialist Academy, located at the site of the former Alderman Swindell School on Beresford Road, will provide 88 places for boys with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs.

Bure Park Specialist Academy is a purpose-built accommodation offering smaller class sizes, higher staffing ratios, specialist therapeutic and educational psychologist support, and a newly-created family learning team.

Family learning teams at the school will help to develop and build relationships with children and their families, as well as providing opportunities for families to actively participate in their child’s placement and learning.

The school is part of a new provision by Norfolk County Council which will see the opening of three new schools and five new specialist resource bases (SRBs) at mainstream schools in the area.

The new provision has been developed as part of the council’s five-year £120 million Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) transformation programme, which pledged to improve support for inclusion in mainstream schools and create 500 new special education places.

Daniel Elmer, deputy cabinet member for children’s services at the council, said: “It’s fantastic to see all these new places open to support the learning of so many children and young people.

“Yarmouth’s new special school is set to provide a really excellent facility in the east of the county.

“And the new specialist support provided by SRBs at locations across Norfolk will give children the extra support they need to achieve their full potential in mainstream schools.

“It is a significant step forward in our pledge to create more specialist places for children with SEND.”

SRBs are also being built at Caister Infant and Nursery School and Caister Junior School.

They are expected to welcome their first pupils in the autumn term initially beginning with eight children at each one, building up to their full capacity of 16 places per base by the end of 2022. 

Children will attend for up to four terms of support before reintegrating back into their mainstream school, remaining part of the school throughout their time at the SEMH base.