A Friends and Family of Bradstow School group has been formed to fight the looming closure of the specialist education site in Broadstairs.
The group has also launched a petition asking Wandsworth Council, which maintains the school, to halt the consultation over the closure and commit to working with Kent County Council, senior leaders of the school and the governing body to reach workable solutions.
They want other local authorities who have children at Bradstow to settle outstanding debts owed to Wandsworth and to reach agreement on a way to secure the school’s future, including the option to transfer oversight of Bradstow School from Wandsworth to Kent County Council.
Bradstow School is expected to shut for good next August.
The school and residential home, for children aged between 5-19 years with severe intellectual disabilities who are on the autistic spectrum continuum, is maintained by the London Borough of Wandsworth with 14 other councils, including Kent County Council, placing children there.
KCC is the largest user of the site with placements of 14 of the 33 children compared to just four from Wandsworth.
Wandsworth Council says it has invested £41million for SEND provision since 2021 to keep youngsters within the borough. The London council said its aim is to support children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) within Wandsworth or as close to their homes as possible.
Proposals for KCC to take over the Bradstow School site have not come to fruition with Wandsworth saying this has resulted in the “difficult decision to propose closure by August 2025, pending a comprehensive consultation process.”
Wandsworth worked with Kent County Council from November 2021, following a meeting chaired by the Regional Schools Commissioner, to explore the potential for transferring the provision. In October Kent County Council decided not to proceed with talks for a transfer.
Unpaid fees
A Wandsworth Council spokesperson said the unwillingness of councils to pay the levels of fees needed to maintain the quality and financial viability of the school has forced the authority to look at other options.
Wandsworth Council says the school currently has a financial deficit of £1.7m and growing. Debt held with other councils is over £3m at any given time and rises to £8m+ at invoicing periods.
A Wandsworth Council report says: “Some councils, particularly Kent County Council, are refusing to pay inflationary uplifts or challenging charges for additional 1:2:1 support provided that is required to sustain their placements and the overall provision.
“Kent County Council have the largest number of children placed at the provision. They are refusing to pay in the region of £2m of fees owed, a combination of not accepting inflationary uplifts nor paying for extra support required to ensure that their children can be supported safely.”
The issue of KCC owing £2million in unpaid fees is currently subject to a legal process. Part of the contention is around a hike in fees of up to 75% and disagreement over how services should be delivered.
Because councils are the commissioners and need to agree the charges, especially with regards to inflationary uplifts or changes in prices for existing placements, Wandsworth says its ability to set prices is constrained.
The London council says its only options are to legally challenge the other councils in court; Issue notice to councils saying that their children can’t be supported any longer in the provision or to close the provision as it is unsustainable.
The Wandsworth report adds: “The high-risk financial liabilities associated with the school are therefore over £3.6m and growing”
Bradstow families
Parent Michaela McCarthy is one of those who has joined the effort to keep the residential school open.
She says eight other schools were approached for her 15-year-old son Chester before finally getting the placement at Bradstow.
She said: “My son Chester has attended Bradstow as a residential placement since September 2023.
“This is his third provision. His last school was an autism specific day placement. Due to Chester’s high care needs he needed a 24 hour curriculum.
“We are a south Essex family, there is no school in our county that could meet Chester’s needs.
“Previous to starting Bradstow, Chester’s EHCP {Education Health and Care Plan) was sent for consultation at eight schools which all said they could not meet his needs.
“Bradstow is a unique school, they care for the most vulnerable complex needs in our society and there are very few provisions like Bradstow across our country.
“The young people that attend could never be placed in mainstream and, like Chester, most of the Bradstow young people have moved from many placements that couldn’t meet needs and many SEND placements have turned our young people away just in the consulting period.
“The parents of Bradstow are deeply upset about the proposed closure, not just for our own young people who currently attend the school but for future SEND families further down the line. If we are struggling now to find schools for our young people, what will happen to future children? Where will they go?
“As parents we have and will continue to support the staff at Bradstow and have full confidence in the work they do on a daily basis with our children. We have supported them through any changes they deemed necessary.
“Bradstow is part of our families, it’s not just a school to us. We have daily communication with the staff and our young people’s care and education.
“You couldn’t ask for more with the level of care they offer our young people.”
Michaela says the group feels the children are losing their school because of outstanding fees not being paid.
She said: “Wandsworth made us aware that fees had not been paid, this is ultimately why it is consulting to close.
“I feel the young people are being lost in all of this. We are talking about extremely vulnerable disabled children being pushed out of an outstanding school because of councils not paying their fees.”
Another young person at the school is 12-year-old Milo, who is non-verbal and uses Makaton signs, a speech device and art to communicate.
He has been at Bradstow School since September 2023 after being turned down for a place at many SEN schools across three counties.
His mum said: “Milo has thrived at Bradstow. He is happy, he has friends, he has developed independence, built relationships, started to form sounds and words, can count and understand basic numbers – all of which are beyond our wildest dreams.
“Milo uses art to communicate and Bradstow have fully supported his need to make work investing in art therapy and also using art in his residential house and supporting him to access an arts centre in the community. He has also had his work exhibited in a gallery in Margate.
“Milo’s anxiety is profound and controls his life. He has attachment disorder which makes relationships very difficult for him to understand and maintain. Bradstow staff have worked tirelessly to make sure Milo feels safe, giving him the understanding and care he needs to build confidence and manage his anxiety to the best of his abilities. This has been life changing for him.
“A Bradstow closure will have a devastating effect on Milo. Another school place ended, relationships and trusted care givers gone, friendships lost – all of these things Milo will not be able to understand.
“All the hard work he has done to trust and adapt to his new environment will have to start again, each time gets more difficult and his life experience is drastically reduced.
“A future without the school is hard to imagine. We do not know how he will make sense of the loss nor do we know how he will cope should a new setting be able to meet his needs. I do know it will be very hard.”
Leon,16, has attended Bradstow since May 2023. He is diagnosed with Downs Syndrome, Severe Global Development Delay and anxiety.
His parents say Leon could no longer attend the previous SEND Day placement due to rising anxiety.
They add: “He became quite aggressive towards everyone as he needed more help and support 24/7 . He had no education for two years, as finding the right setting was paramount and KCC was in no immediate rush.
“Then we found Bradstow School. KCC had contacted many schools and Bradstow replied back to them saying they had a 38 week residential boarder placement.
“Before Bradstow we were struggling every day to keep Leon happy and busy, when at home he needs 24/7 care. Given the chance, he would escape out the front door or try to climb out of windows.
“Leon needs two people with him when out in the community due to his behaviours. I, his mother, couldn’t even take him to the park on my own. We had no respite in place due to him not being at school. We weren’t offered any overnight respite.
“When we viewed Bradstow school and residential homes we were amazed what we found. We knew we had found the right setting. You see how happy all the young people were/are and how much the staff really care for each other and all of the young people in their care.
“The progress Leon has made in the time he has been at Bradstow has amazed us.
“Our worries of the school closing are now through the roof. We will never find another Bradstow. Everything we were offered by KCC was miles away, some even 5-6 hour drives.
“We want to keep him local. If Bradstow closes Leon would regress and lose everything he has learnt.
“Since our son was born, we have fought for everything and will continue to do so and be his voice.”
The group’s petition has been signed by just shy of 1,000 people.
To find the petition click here
A second petition has been raised by East Thanet MP Polly Billington who recently wrote to KCC asking it to take action to save the school.
Ms Billington said: “Wandsworth has offered to transfer ownership of the school over to KCC – including all land. I implore {KCC) to do the right thing and allow this transfer to happen and keep the school operating.”
The MP’s petition is for Kent residents to sign and calls on KCC to take over the school.
She said: “I have had conversations with Bradstow school, Wandsworth Council, and the families, and all three want to work with KCC to resolve this issue and keep the school open. All are willing to be flexible in how they approach this, which is why it’s troubling that KCC is currently blocking this from progressing.
“I would urge all those who want to see the Bradstow School remain open to sign my petition, to ensure Kent County Council hear loud and clear that East Thanet residents want to see them act to save this vital community asset.”
Ms Billington’s petition can be found here
Ofsted inspections
Bradstow School’s education setting has an outstanding rating with Ofsted but the residential side has suffered with concerns and restrictions.
In June this year back up plans to move children out of the school were being made by Kent County Council.
The ‘parallel’ plans came on the heels of Ofsted inspections of social care provision that initially resulted in a restriction of accommodation notice, preventing further children from being admitted to the home.
That restriction, placed in October 2023, was lifted after a follow-up inspection last December but a rating of ‘requires improvement’ remained. Prior to that, in June 2023, the residential inspection had resulted in a Good grading.
However, a new inspection report due to be published shortly is understood to have upgraded the social care rating to Good following a visit last month.
Micheala said: “We are so proud of the work Bradstow has done to achieve the new Ofsted {grading} for the homes, which will be published next week. It has been changed to good.
“We are very pleased by the hard work and dedication that the staff has put into the improvements and have full faith in the staff.”
KCC- alternative provision, fee hikes and building ‘unfit’
KCC says it is working to find alternative educational provision for the pupils currently attending Bradstow School.
A spokesperson added: “Individual plans for each student will seek to minimise the disruption to young people and their families arising from the transition.”
Although the authority has not commented on why talks to take over the Bradstow site were unsuccessful, it is understood there are a number of concerns about the condition of the property and costs of making it ‘fit for purpose’ alongside the concerns raised earlier this year about care provision and social care and police investigations into medication errors at the school.
The Wandsworth Council report says: “Their reason for {not taking over the school} is the financial investment required to make the building fit for purpose alongside the considerable resourcing and risk it would take to operationally sustain the provision.”
The report adds: “Kent County Council, when communicating that they do not wish to explore the transfer of the provision to themselves, described the structure of the buildings on site as unfit for any type of school.
“Kent County Council’s final position is that the cost of converting the building are too high to warrant the investment.”
Wandsworth acknowledge that £500,000 is required to undertake works to rebuild a section of the school wall which is currently a health and safety risk.
One parent who shared the authority’s concerns said: “I am a parent of a child who had to, for their safety, be removed from Bradstow. I doubt that this place will recover in the care of the current management who contributed to its decline. Families are continuing to remove their loved ones due to severe safeguarding issues.”
The consultation for the closure is proposed to begin in January. If closure goes ahead it is expected to result in redundancies. The school has 183 staff- 13 teachers and 173 support staff. Fifty are educational support staff, 29 FTE are back office and operational support staff and 94 are residential support staff. Wandsworth says redundancy costs are estimated to be circa £1million.
The Department of Education is enquiring if there might be any interested parties for the site but “because Bradstow is so complex, both operationally and financially, it has been so far an unattractive proposition for academisation.”
Potential sale
In February The Isle of Thanet News reported that an internal document drawn up by consultants and focusing on asset management at Wandsworth Council listed potential sale of several properties including Bradstow School.
An asset management document published by the authority listed Bradstow School as a “very high value site for alternate use.”
At that time one parent said they feared that with “a financial deficit, a recent restructure and the document hinting at the potential sale of the site” there could be a huge impact similar to the 2015 demise of the Royal School for the Deaf in Margate.
Find the Friends and Family of Bradstow School on facebook here
Timeline
| Pre-proposal consultations (6 weeks) Recommended consultation period of a minimum of 6 weeks. | Monday 6 January 2025 to Friday 14 February 2025 |
| Review of consultation feedback and delegated decision for Director of Children’s Services in consultation with the Cabinet lead for children to decide whether to publish statutory proposals for these changes. | Monday 17 February to Friday 7 March 2025 |
| 4-week statutory representations (‘formal consultation’). Notice to be published in a local newspaper on first day of consultation. | Consultation period: Monday 10 March 2025 to Friday 4 April 2025. |
| Notify OFSTED of intention to close residential homes (3 months’ notice required) | April 2025 (latest date of 31 May 2025 for 31 Aug 2025 closure) |
| OSC and Executive – approving outcome of formal consultation. Note: Executive are required to make decision on the outcome within a 2-month period of closing date of statutory consultation. | Special committee likely required. Date to be confirmed. |
If KCC are involved you can be sure they want to close the school. They ( KCC) should be closed down as a council. They are rank tories voted into their waste of money jobs by other rank Tories. We have seen over the past 14 years just how useless they are. Conservatives are the party of ruination.
Polly Billington MP for East Thanet should not get involved, its a Wandsworth Council, and KCC problem, nothing to do with her. She should concentrate on answering her constituents emails instead!
While I grieve the potential closure of a SEND provision when there are so few in the UK, Bradstow School let my son down so very badly that I couldn’t support it being kept open with the current staff. It used to be amazing, but changes in leadership were disastrous and the excellent staff left. The school / residential provision of NOW should not continue. I am far from alone as a parent those child was irrevocably damaged in their time at the school.
Saw our MP Polly Billington on BBC Politics Live Monday, what was she doing pontificating on world events, instead of answering emails from her constituents?