The provision will be for children who have a range of moderate to severe learning difficulties and complex needs. This is likely to include Speech Language and Communication needs and may also include Autistic Spectrum Conditions and other associated areas of need.
No, children currently at Bedelsford School in Kingston will not be transferring to the new site. The Chaucer Centre will be opening to meet the need for specialist places for 40 children in the borough of Merton.
We will be recruiting staff to work specifically at the satellite site and part of this recruitment process will include a Head of Centre who will act as the site’s operational lead and will be based full time at the Chaucer Centre as well as forming part of Bedelsford’s senior leadership team.
Alongside the head of centre, it is anticipated that current members of the leadership team including the Principal, Deputy Principal and Assistant Principals will spend one day a week at the Chaucer Centre.
The new centre will be fully staffed in terms of support staff and staff recruited to work at the satellite site will then transfer to the new Free School when it opens.
The satellite site in Merton will be fully funded and staffed separate to the current provision at Bedelsford School in Kingston-upon-Thames.
A business plan is being developed by the Trust which will scope out the costs of the satellite provision and its operational structure.
The Chaucer Centre is a former school site that has been used as a training centre and office space by Merton Council in recent years. There are good sized classrooms, hall spaces and facilities to accommodate a school. Some adaptations will need to be made for the cohort of Special Educational Needs children who will attend. This is planned to be carried out before the centre opens in September 2025.
The proposal received approval from the Department for Education in November 2024 and all parties including Merton Council, OHCAT, Bedelsford School and Achieving for Kingston are working together to meet this timeframe.
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