The building contractor who will oversee the multi-million pound redevelopment of a new secondary school in Crowborough has been appointed.
Acre Wood Academy, formerly Grove Park School, is being transformed in a £17million project to bring both the primary and secondary school buildings on to the same site. The work will be carried out by the construction company Willmott Dixon.
The project will involve building a brand new secondary building for the school in Church Road which caters for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Church Road has been closed to traffic during August while what appears to be preliminary works involving UK Power Networks and the access to the school site are carried out.
East Sussex County Council is behind the bold scheme which is planned for completion in September 2027. It says the new purpose-built facility will benefit not only local children but also the rapidly increasing number of children with special needs across the county.
The school, which provides for pupils aged 4–19 with a wide range of special educational needs, has also become part of London South East Academies Trust (LSEAT) and has described the move as “the start of a new era”.
The school’s secondary and sixth form classes currently take place at Beacon Academy. While secondary provision will move to Church Road, the current arrangement would continue for sixth formers.
The investment comes following a big leap in the number of young people in the county with special educational needs. The numbers of school aged children and young people aged 4-19 in East Sussex with an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) has been rising steeply in recent years, from 3,126 in 2018-19 to 3,494 in 2021-22, an increase of 12%.
As a result of the rise in numbers of pupils with an EHCP, particularly those with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties (PMLD), pupil numbers at Grove Park School (now Acre Wood Academy), the only special school in the north of the county, had also increased significantly – up 33 per cent in the last 10 years.
The new school building will accommodate up to 60 pupils, including two classrooms for students with Profound Multiple Learning Difficulties. The site will provide 28 additional car parking spaces and the new secondary school building will be linked to the existing primary school by a covered canopy walkway.