Major milestone reached as construction of new Fred Nicholson School in Swaffham gets under way
A major milestone has been reached in the construction of a new special school - with spades officially in the ground.
The official groundbreaking took place today to celebrate the beginning of work to build the relocated Fred Nicholson School.
The school will move from its current home in Dereham to a new site on Lynn Road in Swaffham to ensure it can better meet the needs of its growing number of pupils.
And an exciting announcement has revealed that another similar school could soon be coming to West Norfolk.
Fred Nicholson provides an inclusive environment for children and young people aged five to 16 with special educational needs and disabilities. The school’s relocation, part of Norfolk County Council's multi-million pound Local First Inclusion (LFI) programme, means the number of pupils will grow from 197 to 224.
The ceremony was attended by the county council, which is funding and commissioning the new school, as well as pupils and staff from the school, building constructors R G Carter, designers NPS and Roy Sykes Consulting.
Cllr Penny Carpenter, cabinet member for children’s services at the county council, said: “Relocating Fred Nicholson School allows us to address the growing demand for specialised education and support services, ensuring that every child in Norfolk can flourish.
“This project is a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved, from the planning stages to today’s groundbreaking. A big thank you to the staff, parents, and community members who have supported this initiative.
“Together, we are building a brighter future for our children, and I am excited to see the positive impact this new school will have on their lives.”
Heidi Philpott, head teacher at the school, said: “Plans and ideas for our new school have been discussed for some time, however today the vision and excitement became the reality.
“Today starts our journey to our new school, which will offer us many more learning opportunities along with appropriate specialist rooms and facilities to truly meet the needs of our young people.
“While only a few of us have been able to attend the event today, back in school everyone is awaiting news and photos. We will all be following the progress of the build closely and look forward to helping our young people transition successfully.”
Mario Rackham, general manager and director at R G Carter, added: “We are delighted to have been appointed to deliver this much-needed SEN school for the local community and to host this celebration to mark its construction.
“We are proud to be continuing our partnership with Norfolk County Council children services, with whom we have created many high-quality educational projects and specialist SEN provisions across the region and are looking forward to delivering this exciting new facility in Swaffham.”
The new site spans approximately 3.2 hectares and features a three-storey building with 17 main classrooms, providing comprehensive special school education and dedicated areas for sixth form and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) provision.
The school also includes specialised classrooms for creative arts, music and drama, food technology and life skills.
The county council's special educational needs and/or disabilities improvement programme Local First Inclusion (LFI) is bringing more than £100million of new investment by the Department for Education (DfE) and the authority.
LFI builds on the council’s £120million capital investment to build more special schools and specialist resource bases in mainstream schools, with three special schools delivered to date as well as hundreds of specialist places at mainstream school delivered and planned.
Plans for two further schools, in Downham and Great Yarmouth, are also well under way - with sponsors and funding agreed with the DfE.
