New secondary school for children with special needs to open in East Manchester next year

The free school academy with space for 150 pupils between 11 and 19 years old is set to open in September 2024.

The move is a response to rising demand for specialist education in the city and is the second secondary school planned in close proximity. Labour councillor John Flanagan who represents the area welcomed the proposal.

He said: “I think it’s absolutely brilliant for the North and East of Manchester to have a school like this. We’re going from having no secondary schools to two secondary schools and one with a sixth form. We’re absolutely delighted.”

The Miles Platting and Newton Heath councillor said that the new school will provide the extra support that some children require, but not segregate them from others. He wants local employers such as Manchester City and the new Co-op Live Arena to work with the school and offer its students opportunities.

The special school would be built on land off Sawley Road, a mile away from the football club’s Etihad campus and the new music arena which is currently under construction. The single-storey school building would have a taller a main hall with playing fields, a games area and car parking also planned.

Some of these facilities would also be available for the community to use outside of school hours. According to Manchester council, some of the mature trees that line Sawley Road and Vickers Street would be maintained to lessen the visual impact of the development and provide some privacy for the school.

However, some trees will be removed before the end of February to avoid the nesting season. Any trees that are removed would be replaced elsewhere.

Another secondary school is planned in Newton Heath at the former Jackson’s Brickworks site as part of a huge housing development off Ten Acres Lane. The special secondary school at Sawley Road in Miles Platting would be run as an academy with a trust to be appointed by the Department for Education.

The new school would be open to boys and girls with an Education, Health and Care Plan, and will have space for 150 pupils aged between 11 and 19 years old. According to national policy, it must be established as a free school academy.