First glimpse at grand plans as Mansfield Woodhouse school set for demolition and rebuild

Yeoman Park Academy, a specialist school for children with severe, complex, profound and multiple learning difficulties, on Park Hall Road, Mansfield Woodhouse, is set to undergo a dramatic transformation designed to benefit pupils.

A planning application, submitted to Mansfield Council, has now detailed proposals to demolish the school’s existing buildings and replace them with all new state-of-the-art facilities.

The application site includes the existing Yeoman Park Academy school and an area of land to the north which is currently part of the recreation area for Manor Academy and Leas Park Junior School.

The proposal reads: “The vision is to provide model learning spaces, which will enable the school to deliver an excellent and appropriate educational experience in an environment where students can flourish and reach their full potential.

“The new school will have teaching spaces for primary, secondary and sixth form levels.

“The existing school buildings will be demolished as part of the works and a strip of land to the south of the site will be transferred to Leas Park Junior School to mitigate the loss of playing fields to the north.

“The development will also include the relocation of long jumps currently within Manor Academy playing fields.”

The work comes after the school was identified by the Government as one of the first 50 schools in England to benefit from a new transformative 10-year rebuilding programme.

The £1bn scheme, first announced by the government last June, is now seeing a major rebuilding programme beginning to take shape nationwide.

Yeoman Park will be redeveloped to the latest green credentials and will include an extensive range of modern facilities to support 138 students aged three to 19.

Courtney Hoop, academy principal, said: “As a staff team, our core focus is always on ensuring our children and young people are given every opportunity to demonstrate what they can do and to reach their full potential — regardless of any physical disabilities or barriers to learning that they face.

“We’re absolutely thrilled that as part of this new development we will be able to offer an enhanced teaching and learning environment. Our children deserve the very best.”