A DEDICATED sixth form college for students with special educational needs and disabilities has opened fulfilling a 30 year dream for a leading educator.
Executive principal of Beaumont Hill Academy, Darlington, Caroline Green saw her long-held ambitions accomplished as Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson performed the opening honours.
The new sixth form college has been created from a redundant SureStart Centre building owned by Darlington Borough Council, opposite the Education Village, on Salters Lane South, at a cost of more than £840,000. The scheme also includes creating four more classrooms on the Education Village site to allow more Darlington pupils to be educated locally.
The sixth form college will deliver a variety of accreditations to SEND students, including BTEC Prevocational Award and Certificates, in a range of subjects, such as AQA Unit Awards in English, maths, PSHE, physical education, ICT, ASDAN PSD entry level functional skills in maths, AQA Step up to English entry Level 1-3, Pearson BTEC Level 1 and Level 2 Awards in Home Cooking Skills.
Beaumont Hill Academy, which is part of the Education Village Academy Trust, currently has 400 pupils, aged two to 19, making it one of the largest SEND facilities in the country.
The new college features classrooms, kitchen facilities and outdoor space to deliver post-16 educational provision to even more students as demand for such teaching skills burgeons.
Mrs Green said: “It has always been my dream to have such a sixth form college and now we have. Staff, students, parents and carers are very excited about the prospect.
“We have been involved with the design and it is brilliant, feeling much more like a college than a school. The idea is that the young people can host events there as it’s not on the Education Village site.
“SEND is much more visible today with greater recognition and diagnosis of conditions. Better medical intervention also allows disabled students to go to school. I have seen our school double in size and there is a massive increase in autism at the moment.”
The Education Secretary said: “It’s brilliant to see the expansion here today and to be able to celebrate the amazing success of opening more opportunities for young people including those with the most complex needs.
“We know there is still so much more to do to ensure parents get early access to the specialist support they need. We need to make sure they don’t have to fight so hard to get the support that should be their right.”
Chief executive of the Education Village Academy Trust Mike Butler said: “Beaumont Hill Academy has long stood as a place where individual strengths and talents are valued; where possibilities are recognised and nurtured; and where young people aged two to 19 are supported through personalised pathways to achieve their full potential.
“Our collective endeavours have always been based in human dignity, not founded on deficit. This new facility strengthens our mission, reinforces our ethos and reflects our unwavering commitment to the children and young people we serve.”
Darlington Borough Council cabinet member for children and young people Nick Wallis, who is also a ward councillor for Haughton, added: “Parents tell me of the care, attention, education and love staff offer here. It is a supportive and inclusive school tailored to the meet children’s individual needs and I know the future is bright.”
Darlington MP Lola McEvoy said: “To have this facility so close is wonderful. We don’t have to choose between empathy and excellence. This is proof you can have both.”
Parents attending the event said that such a facility gave families hope for the future. Beverley Bird, the mother of a Year 3 student with profound autism, said: “It is very stressful for parents as the places generally are not there which will affect children’s ability to thrive. So it is huge that we now have this provision as it takes the pressure off parents as their children can be here from aged two to 19.”
The mother of a Year 3 pupil, Catherine Dillon-Goodier, said they chose to travel in every day from Stockton because they loved the school. “The facilities are fantastic and the staff are lovely,” she said.
The father of a Year 9 pupil Kit Dixon added: “My daughter is happy when she gets on the school bus and she is happy when she gets off it at the end of the day. As a parent you can’t want more than that.”
Student Alex Brown said: “I have been at this school for as long as I can remember, since I was five, so it is good to go somewhere new that is very nice.”