REDCAR & Cleveland Borough Council’s Cabinet has today (Tuesday 6 February) approved plans for a new building to house Pathways School to be built in Redcar.
The current Pathways building needs further improvement and the new building will provide an opportunity to create something really special for young people with social, emotional and mental health needs.
Currently 64 pupils can be taught at Pathways but the new school building, which will be built on the site of the former Redcar Education Development Centre on Corporation Road in Redcar, will have the capacity to teach up to 100 pupils.
The increase in capacity will allow some children who currently have to be educated outside the borough to join with the other pupils currently attending Pathways.
Approval from Cabinet comes after a period of consultation which saw the community, students, parents and teachers from other Redcar and Cleveland schools give the plans their support. One parent said they were ‘ecstatic’ with the plans, believing that the new site will be hugely beneficial for pupils.
The majority of the funding for the new building will come from the government’s Priority School Building Programme which was established to provide funding to rebuild and refurbish school buildings across the country.
Now Cabinet has given its support to the plans, the next stage is for an application to be submitted to regulatory committee for approval before the estimated construction date in July.
Cllr Craig Hannaway, Cabinet Member for Children, said: “We believe that every child deserves the best education possible and we want all our children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to be educated in a school that is fit for purpose.
“Getting a good quality education is the best foundation for a successful future and a new school building for Pathways will help pupils become an integral part of a welcoming local community.”