Dismay as special school is delayed for years

Long-awaited plans for a new school for autistic students in Worcestershire have been delayed until 2029, with parents calling it "devastating".

The government has told Worcestershire County Council a 120-place special free school in Malvern will not be ready to open for another three years at the earliest.

Until now it was scheduled to open in September 2027, but the Department for Education has pushed it back after a funding review.

Councillor Dan Boatright-Greene, cabinet member for education, said: "I'm absolutely raging about this." A government spokesman said it was committed to "once-in-a-generation" reforms.

The school will cater for children aged between five and 19, with the plans first unveiled in 2023 on a site in Poolbrook.

In February this year the council rejected a £5.7m offer to scrap the school plans, after the government offered an alternative of taking the cash to spend on increasing the number of SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) places in mainstream schools.

Greene said: "Sometimes I do wonder what goes on in Whitehall.

"We've got children desperately needing specialist school places, a council doing everything it can to provide them and a government telling us the school we were promised is another two years away.

"You cannot educate a child with a ministerial reassurance. You need classrooms, teachers and schools that are actually open."

Some parents of children with special educational needs in Worcestershire told the BBC they were disappointed with the decision.

Jade Berrow-Hill, a mum from Kidderminster, has an eight-year-old autistic daughter, Addison, who is being educated in a mainstream school.

"How many children will be left at a disadvantage because of this? How many will end up going through their education without the help they need? It's not just a SEND school, it's a lifeline for families," she said.

"Families like ours hold on for so long for these sorts of lifelines. To have it dangled in your face and then pushed back like this is not good."

Tracy Winchester, a mum from Bromsgrove who has two children with learning difficulties, added: "It is such frustrating news again for the SEND community in Worcestershire, that needed this new setting desperately.

"Even with this new school, there would still be significant levels of unmet need in the county."

In a letter to the council, the government's children and families minister Josh MacAlister wrote that September 2029 was the earliest it could open, following a review.

The government has unveiled a £4bn investment in SEND provision across England, largely focused on improving provision in mainstream schools.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education said: "Our once-in-a-generation reforms, backed by £4bn, will make sure every child across the country gets the right support, early on, without a fight.

"Parents and children need places now - which is why we have so far invested £7.1m in 2025-26 and £8.5m in 2026-27 in Worcestershire to deliver new specialist or alternative provision places in brilliant existing schools, so families can get more support more quickly, and every child can achieve and thrive in their local school.

"That's one part of our wider reform to fix the system, including an investment of £3.7bn nationally to create 60,000 specialist places, equipped with the right staff and facilities so that all can be inclusive by design."

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