Wandsworth Council has confirmed that the proposed closure of Bradstow School in Broadstairs is set to progress to the next stage after the Department for Education (DfE) was unable to approve plans for it to become an academy with the Cygnus Academies Trust.
Bradstow School is a residential special school and has supported children with complex learning needs and autism since 1990, when it was inherited by Wandsworth Council.
In November last year, Wandsworth Council proposed closing the school at the end of the 2024/25 academic year. The London authority said the decision was driven by the unwillingness of some councils to pay fees at a level needed to ensure the school remains viable.
Since then, Wandsworth Council has been supporting Bradstow School with an academy application to the DfE with the Cygnus Academies Trust to allow it to remain open.
The DfE has now announced that this application has not been approved.
‘Disappointed’
Judi Gasser, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, said: “I was very disappointed to hear that the Department for Education could not approve Bradstow School’s application to become an academy.
“This is not the result we wanted, and we have worked tirelessly to secure a different outcome by working closely with all parties involved to support this application.
“Sadly, this leaves us with no option but to commence the formal consultation on the closure of the school at the start of the new academic year to give families, councils and school staff clarity on the next steps.
“In collaboration with the parents, we have secured offers of alternative placements for the two Wandsworth children still attending the school and have invested £41 million since 2021 in ensuring that children with special educational needs can access high quality support locally.
“Our priority is to ensure that any transition, if the decision goes ahead, is smooth and that children continue to receive high-quality, specialised support. We thank Bradstow’s dedicated staff for their invaluable service over the years and will work with them closely throughout this process.”
Deficit
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 but 14 other councils, including Kent County Council, placed children there.
KCC was the largest user of the site with 13 of the 32 children placed by the authority according to data last year.
Wandsworth Council said the school had 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.
Councils with placements at the school said uplifts in fees were not previously agreed.
Last September a decision was made to reduce provision at the school to operate five smaller 38-week homes and cease the 52- week provision in response to the significant safeguarding concerns across the care provision, specifically in relation to the management of medication, and the leadership response to allegations made by children.
News of the planned closure came after The Isle of Thanet News revealed last June that back up plans to move children out of Bradstow School were being made by Kent County Council.
The ‘parallel’ plans came on the heels of Ofsted inspections of social care provision at Bradstow School that initially resulted in a restriction of accommodation notice, preventing further children from being admitted to the home.
That restriction was lifted after a follow-up inspection last December but a rating of ‘requires improvement’ remained. This applied to the residential operations, the education provision at the school has been rated Outstanding by Ofsted.
The residential rating has since been upgraded to Good.
A consultation was launched in November and ran until February. A petition featuring 1,700 signatories opposing the closure was formally submitted to the Mayor of Wandsworth.
The DfE continues to look into alternative options to closure.
