Wandsworth primary school set to close as not enough space for SEN kids

A town hall is planning to shut down a primary school as there’s not enough space for kids with severe learning difficulties in the borough.

Kids in Wandsworth with special educational needs are also being sent to private schools elsewhere in London as the borough has run out of places for them.

Wandsworth council is spending £11million a year sending kids to private schools as it doesn’t have enough space for them locally.

From September 2020 to now, 84 per cent of these school kids had special educational needs.

The authority is now proposing to close Broadwater Primary School, in Broadwater Road, so Paddock Special School can relocate and expand from September 2024.

Paddock’s site in Priority Lane would also be kept as a facility for kids with special needs. The project is set to cost up to £20 million.

The council’s children’s committee heard on Wednesday (September 28) that kids at Broadwater would be moved to other local schools while there are vacancies elsewhere for staff that would lose their jobs if the plans go ahead.

Labour councillor Kate Stock said: “We’ve seen many of our young children with SEND having to travel long distances… attending schools outside of Wandsworth, particularly to more expensive independent schools, and that’s coming at a cost not only financially but also to children and to our local school community.

“So the situation that we’re faced with now is that we’ve had a quickly escalating demand for specialist places and we no longer have sufficient capacity within our special school system so we really have to think differently and act fast in response to the challenges that we have faced.”

She added: “I want to be really clear that the proposal isn’t a reflection on the quality of teaching and learning or the staff and leadership at the school.”

The committee was told Broadwater offers a huge site while Paddock doesn’t have enough outside space.

Officers said the plans would help stop kids with severe learning difficulties going to schools outside the borough. But councillors also said the proposals had devastated and shocked those at Broadwater.

Pictured top: Broadwater Primary School in Wandsworth (Picture: Google Street View)