A building project which will create 27 new special school places and a state-of-the-art new school for 224 children with SEND has passed another milestone.
The Fred Nicholson Special School in Dereham is moving to a new site in Lynn Road Swaffham to a bigger and brand new building, enabling it to better accommodate its growing number of pupils. The expansion will create new school places for early years and infant school (Key Stage 1) children.
It’s part of Norfolk County Council’s multi million pound Local First Inclusion programme, which provides a range of new wraparound support and expertise to mainstream schools to help them support children with SEND and is creating more specialist capacity in specialist resource bases (SRBs) and special schools.
A ceremony was held recently to mark the new building’s topping out – which is a traditional celebration marking the completion of the roof and weathertightness of the building.
Children from Fred Nicholson attended with their teachers alongside local construction company R G Carter, design partner colleagues from NPS, and officers from Norfolk County Council, which is funding and commissioning the new school.
Councillor Penny Carpenter, cabinet member for Children’s Services at Norfolk County Council said: “It’s fantastic to see this impressive new school taking shape. The building and its state-of-the-art facilities will offer an outstanding specialist environment for the learning and development of children with SEND.”
Alex Mackay, Construction Director at R G Carter said: “R G Carter was delighted to welcome key stakeholders, students and staff to celebrate this exciting milestone.
“The topping-out ceremony is a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase progress to those that will be using the building on completion, as well as thank everyone involved in the journey so far. We look forward to bringing Norfolk County Council’s vision to life and completing this much-needed new SEN provision for the benefit of its students, staff, and the local community.”
Heidi Philpott, Headteacher of Fred Nicholson School, said: “It is incredibly exciting for our learners to be included in this celebration, offering them the opportunity to see their new school taking shape. We are all looking forward to the move and being able to learn together in a school with purposeful and modern equipment and facilities.”
The new building is three-storeys with 17 main classrooms, dedicated areas for sixth form and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) provision, and specialist teaching areas for life skills, sensory immersion and sensory and physical development.
Read more on It was great to welcome the wonderful pupils from Fred Nicholson School for a tour of their new 224-place SEND school in Swaffham, and mark the building’s roof completion with a topping out.
Joined by representatives from Norfolk County Council, who are funding and commissioning the new school, and designers NPS Group, James Carter led a traditional beer pouring on the roof, with a celebratory cheer, to mark the occasion.
Pupils enjoyed looking over the plans, having time on the roof and getting a chance to see their new Hall. They even got some celebratory ‘honks’ from passing diggers on site! A truly memorable day for them all.
This three storey, state-of-the-art school will offer an outstanding specialist environment for the learning and development of children with SEND, from Years 3 -13.
View R G carter’s expertise in Education: https://www.rgcarter-construction.co.uk/sector/education-2/
