Watch more of our videos on Shots!
and live on Freeview channel 276

Plans to build a new school for children with special educational needs have been given almost unanimous backing in a consultation.

It paves the way for the 160-place school for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to come forward in Mansfield.

Nottinghamshire Council confirmed plans earlier this year to build the school on the former Ravensdale Middle School site, off Ravensdale Lane.

The former school was demolished after it closed in 2001 and has since become derelict and disused.

A new school for SEND pupils is propsed to be built on the site of the old Ravensdale School. Photo: Google

It was named as the Conservative-led council’s preferred site for the new school within wider plans for hundreds more SEND places.

Local politicians previously described the plans as ‘fantastic’ for the town with a belief it would benefit both children and nearby schools.

It will begin as a 144-place school before eventually expanding to 160 places and will aim to provide a ‘very specific and specialist learning environment’ for children with autistic spectrum disorder.

A number of design elements will be included during construction to allow children to ‘recalibrate their senses’ as they travel through the building.

This includes classrooms factoring in acoustic performance, ‘escape space’ and sensory zones, the council says.

Future is bright for Mansfield school that has leapt from ‘Inadequate’ to ‘Good’...

The authority adds it plans to make the new school carbon-neutral with solar panels installed alongside air-to-water heat pumps.

Now the plans have taken a major step forward after they were endorsed by a public consultation.

Sixty responses were submitted to the council during the public survey, which took place between July and August.

It found 96.67 per cent – or 58 respondents – agreed the new school should be built in Mansfield.

Mansfield Council also said it would ‘support the principle’ of a school on the land but raised some concerns over highways and the environment and questioned how many of the prospective pupils would be from its district.

However, the county council has said Mansfield and neighbouring Ashfield make up 41 per cent of all Nottinghamshire children waiting for SEND places.

Coun Andre Camilleri (Con), who represents Mansfield South, said in March: “Our district, along with Ashfield, has the greatest need for this type of school.”

The council previously said it hopes to open the school by September 2025, permitting a separate planning application is submitted and approved.

Proposed new 160-place SEND school for Mansfield wins public backing