Plans for a new special school in Hyndburn are forging ahead.
A bid from St Christopher’s CE High School on Queen’s Road West, Accrington, to create a free school catering for 11 to 19-year-olds with special needs is now in the final stages.
It is hoped that The Pathways School, which would focus particularly on young people with autism spectrum disorder, will be open by September 2018.
Staff at St Christopher’s have been working with free school campaign charity, the New Schools Network, on the application, and the proposal is now being fine tuned ahead of submission to the Department of Education at the end of this month.
St Christopher’s headteacher Richard Jones, said: “The next process is that the strong applicants are invited to an interview with the Department for Education, which myself, out assistant head, chair of governors and business manager would attend in November if we are successful.
“Then a final decision will be made in the new year, 2017.”
Mr Jones will find out in October whether the school’s bid will go to interview, but already the team have been offered a mock interview with the New Schools Network in London on October 21, so he is feeling positive.
He said: “We have been working alongside the New School Network and the advice and guidance they have provided has been positive and supportive.
“It’s a very rigorous process - our proposal is about 200 pages long and covers ethos, curriculum, governance and the finance of staffing.
The Department for Education assesses two rounds of free school applications a year, and this round is expected to be particularly large.
Mr Jones said: “We are up against some strong applicants, but our proposal makes a strong case for a school for a group of young people for whom mainstream education does not adequately cater for.
“We’ve had strong backing from Blackburn diocese and, although free schools can sometimes be controversial, I’m delighted that we haven’t faced any opposition so far, in fact quite the opposite - we’ve had huge support.
“We already offer a Pathways Programme for similar students post-16, so we have shown experience and education and I think that makes us strong candidates.”
