North East Lincolnshire council has sanctioned a pivotal development in special needs education, allocating a £6m investment for the transformation of a former school into a sixth form centre for Humberston Park Special School. The move aims to tackle the urgent requirement for increased spaces, an issue emphasised by Councillor Margaret Cracknell. Due to increasingly high demand, the current school, located in St Thomas Close, Humberston, is consistently at overcapacity.
The council’s solution to this problem is to reacquire the former Nunsthorpe School, which was sold to Grimsby Institute in 2004 and repurpose it into a specialised sixth form, thereby alleviating the burden on the existing premises. The objective of this expansion is not only to better cater to the rising number of pupils in need of special education, but also to curtail the number of children having to be educated outside the borough, which could result in savings of up to £31,000 annually.
The refurbishment will be financed through council funds specifically allotted for pupils places and a forthcoming Department for Education higher needs grant. The transition process is intended to get underway in September, coinciding with Grimsby Institute’s relocation.
This article was derived from original reporting carried out by www.bbc.com and adapted for The Lincoln Post.
