Special needs school hopes

Special needs school hopes

6 March 2024

THE potential for Down High School’s current Mount Crescent campus in Downpatrick to be redeveloped to provide a purpose-built centre of excellence for special needs education is to be further explored.

Department for Education officials are planning to meet shortly with Knockevin Special School representatives to examine the possibility of a new capital build project at the grammar school site to accommodate their needs.

Down High moves to a new £33m home on the Strangford Road next year, with the vacated site viewed as ideal for Knockevin to relocate its existing bases.

Knockevin caters for pupils with severe learning difficulties aged between three to 19 with its Early Years Centre based in Dundrum. The junior and multi-disciplinary department is headquartered in Downpatrick, with the senior school located in Castlewellan.  

Currently, some pupils have to travel between the three sites which eats into their time with the one-site option favoured by the school and local politicians.

This week, Stormont Education Minister Paul Givan has confirmed that his officials are due to meet with Knockevin principal Sara Liddell and Board of Governors representatives to have what are being described as “initial discussions” about the possibility of the school moving to a new centre of special needs excellence.

Mr Givan said any expansion or move to new accommodation would require a level of capital investment.

Given Down High’s relocation, its large site is being viewed as the ideal location for a new home for Knockevin which would ensure all its pupils are educated on the one site.

Knockevin has a long-term aim to move to a purpose-built special school on a single site serving the children in the area to enhance the excellent service it already provides and says such a move 

would allow it to cater for more pupils.

Last month, the school principal said she and the Board of Governors were working actively and  have ideas for special needs education in the area and are linking with the Department for Education, the Education Authority and Controlled Schools Council.

News of the meeting to discuss Knockevin’s potential move to a new home comes in the same week as the Education Minister confirmed plans to increase the number of special education needs places across South Down.

He said demand for places has increased significantly over recent years with the Education Authority revealing demand is 37% higher this year compared to the previous 12 months and that across Northern Ireland, 1,000 additional places will be required for the start of the new school term in September.

Mr Givan said South Down has been identified as an area of “particular pressure.”

In a written response to Diane Forsythe MLA on plans to increase funded special education needs places across the constituency, the minister confirmed the Education Authority is planning to create up to 25 additional special school places and up to 40 additional specialist paces in mainstream education.

“I recognise that special schools are operating at full and, in most cases, over capacity and that brings with it challenges with school accommodation,” he said.

Mr Givan said that in an effort to address medium and longer term issues in the South Down, his department approved a land purchase to extend Rathore School in Newry.

He continued: “My officials are also due to meet with the principal and Board of Governors of Knockevin Special School, which is currently operating across three sites, to have initial discussions about the possibility of repurposing the Down High School site when it decants to new premises in 2025.

“Any expansion or move to new accommodation will require a level of capital investment.”

Mr Givan said the Education Authority is “working at pace” to confirm specialist education needs in order to create additional capacity in the system.

He added: “All schools have been written to and schools in the South Down area will be contacted over the next few weeks to explore the possibility of establishing additional specialist provision classes to meet demand for September 2024.

Ms Forsythe has welcomed confirmation that up to 25 additional special school places and up to 40 additional specialist places are to be provided across the constituency for the start of the new school term this September.

“These places are much needed and I appreciate his formal acknowledgement that South Down has been an area experiencing particular pressure on this,” she continued.

“I also welcome Mr Givan’s commitment to meeting with Knockevin School to discuss its need for a new special school in the area.”

Ms Forsythe added: “ Our special schools do an amazing job and it is critical that children in rural areas like South Down receive appropriate provision and are not disadvantaged.”