News / Education
Special needs school to close
A special needs school in Westbury Park is to close after 70 years of work after its board of trustees found it to be “economically unviable”.
St Christopher’s School, also a children’s home, will close in March 2016 in the face of increasing competition, falling referrals and changes to legislation, a statement said.
The school, which opened in 1945, offers year-round support to 38 pupils from across the country, all of whom have severe and complex learning difficulties. It also employs about 350 staff.
A statement released by the school said: “Over recent years the school has faced an increasingly competitive marketplace with gradually reducing referrals and more complex pupils.
“Changes to care and education legislation and inspection standards, which has required an increasingly time and resource intensive level of provision for each pupil and stagnation in fees, have meant that providing this level of care and support in the school’s current premises has become economically unviable.”
St Christopher’s also runs Hyde Lodge, a support service for seven for 19-25-year-olds which will not be affected by the closure.
Michael Frosch, acting principal, said: “We are very conscious of the impact this proposal will have on the lives of the children placed with us, their families and all staff employed by St Christopher’s.
“We therefore would like to assure everyone connected with the school that this proposal was only made after thoroughly exploring all available alternatives.”
St Christopher’s School is a charity and each pupil is funded by their local authority.
The school was rated “good” by Ofsted on its last inspection. But the questions were raised about the residential care in another report published in August this year.
The report raised concerns about residential pupils being unnecessarily restrained and in one case locked in their rooms. “As a result, some young people’s liberty is restricted,” the report notes.
Picture from St Christopher’s School.
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