Extra special school provision looks set for Middlewich and Wilmslow

The popular Springfield School at Crewe caters for children and young people who have autism, severe learning difficulties and complex needs.

It is rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.

Cheshire East proposes to use one of its own buildings - Cledford House - as a satellite school site for Springfield in Middlewich.

This Middlewich expansion will provide a specialist setting for 60 pupils aged between four and 11 with a range of special education needs.

The council has consulted on the proposals and the responses received supported the plan.

Springfield School, Wilmslow (Image: Springfield School, Wilmslow) Springfield already has a satellite site at Wilmslow and the proposal here is to expand by an additional 20 places for pupils between the ages of four and 16, increasing the overall capacity to 100 places.

This would involve adding two classrooms, which would mean the refurbishment and repurposing of the adjacent former Dean Row Community Centre for use by the school.

This proposal has met with a mixed response with 39 people who replied to the consultation supporting the proposal and 22 opposing it.

The report to this month’s committee meeting states: “One of the key concerns raised by the responders who did not support the proposal was the loss of community facilities.

“Springfield School is very keen to work with community groups to address these concerns raised and allow community use of the premises outside of school hours.

“In addition to this there are also facilities at Oakenclough Family Hub that can be utilised by community groups.”

Cheshire East needs more special schools because it only has six and these are currently at full capacity or operating above capacity.

This has resulted in an over-reliance on the independent sector and the cost of these placements are far higher than special school placements.

All this adds extra pressure on the cash-strapped council, which is predicting its special needs budget deficit will reach £120.1m by the end of this financial year with mitigations – and £132.6m without mitigating measures.

The report states: “The location of both these school sites … will support the reduction in transport time for learners and associated costs.

“The challenges of long journey times for our most vulnerable learners are a real concern and we know that too many learners are travelling more than two hours to and from school each day which impacts significantly to their emotional wellbeing and to our overall budget pressures.”

If the committee approves the proposals, the Middlewich school is expected to open in September 2026 and it is anticipated the premises expansion of the Springfield Wilmslow campus will be ready for occupation by September 2025.

Both sites will need to obtain planning permission.

The children and families committee meeting takes place at 2pm on Monday, November 11 at the council’s Westfields offices in Sandbach.