St Giles Special School: Proposal for change in number of pupils

Overview

St Giles School, Babworth Road, Retford, Nottinghamshire, DN22 7NJ

It is proposed that:

From September 2025, modifications of St Giles School will allow for an additional 45 pupils, from 205 to 250 with an additional 50 pupils, 250 to 300 from September 2026, across both the Babworth Road and Retford Education Centre sites. 

As St Giles School is a local authority maintained special school, Nottinghamshire County Council is required to undertake a statutory consultation since the roll of this special school is planned to increase by +10% [see p.23 Making significant changes (‘prescribed alterations’) to maintained schools (publishing.service.gov.uk) March 2025.

Reason for change:

Nottinghamshire’s Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Place Planning Strategy (2021-2026) states that:

• Despite the planned actions to develop locality working, and the ongoing commitment to inclusion, the analysis of the continuing demand for specialist educational placements … will require the county council to increase provision over the next five years
• This pressure for additional placements exists now… as an additional 275-490 places in specialist provision (are needed) by September 2026.

Therefore, Nottinghamshire County Council is proposing the expansion of a current Special School, St Giles, permitting 95 extra places to be available for local young people.

Pupil numbers:

The current capacity of St Giles School is 205. Following the proposed modifications, the capacity of St Giles School will rise to 300.

Growth:

45 additional places will be allocated during the Autumn Term 2025 and a further 50 additional places allocated in the Autumn Term 2026.

Admissions:

The allocation of additional places at this Special School will continue to be managed by the Statutory Education Health & Care Assessment Team of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Integrated Children's Disability Service (ICDS). Places will be allocated to those children with Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs) specifying specialist provision which can be offered at St Giles.

Please note, there will be no pupils displaced by this proposal.

The proposed increase in roll at St Giles will:

• increase the LA’s capacity to provide more places for pupils with SEND in Bassetlaw and surrounding areas in high quality provision
• increase the school’s capacity to place pupils with SEND who move into the area and who might be without a special school place
• create an opportunity to host more teacher training places at the school, thus increasing the special needs experience of teachers for the future 
• reduce the need for pupils with SEND to be placed at a greater distance from where they live, or to move to independent provision
• improve the outcomes for pupils with SEND
• increase the school’s capacity to meet the needs of its pupils with the highest levels of need
• increase the capacity of local special schools
• enhance opportunities to build partnerships with local mainstream schools.

Travel:

The Local Authority is confident that the school site will be easily accessible to existing and new pupils using current means of transport.