More than £600,000 to be invested across two school sites in Northumberland

At Tuesday’s meeting of Northumberland County Council’s cabinet, members agreed to fund a £256,300 development at Cleaswell Hill School in Choppington and the purchase of a £373,000 learning module for Cramlington Learning Village.

The Cleaswell project will be used to provide 30 additional SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) pupil places, while the Cramlington modules will look to meet demand from increasing pupil numbers from feeder schools.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, Coun Guy Renner Thompson – the Conservative administration’s cabinet member for children’s services – explained why the money was being invested in Cleaswell.

He said: “Cleaswell is one of our outstanding special schools within the Bedlington partnership of schools.

“This year, we have received £851,000 from the Government to increase our SEND capacity in the county. This is one of the proposals that has come forward.

“Next to the school is an old library building, the Sycamore Centre, which is not in use anymore. The proposal is to extend the school into that building to give us another 30 spaces for our SEND children.”

Council leader Glen Sanderson said the plan was a “great project” and its approval was “great news”.

Speaking on the plans for Cramlington, Coun Renner Thompson continued: “The £373,000 will be used to purchase two additional mobile classrooms.

“There is a boom in population coming up in the Cramlington schools. The Department of Education is building a brand new Cramlington Learning Village so we have designed these to be mobile, so once they’re built we own them, they’re mobile and we can take them down and use them somewhere else.”

Coun Sanderson added: “These are not portacabins – these are super-duper. I’n glad because at that price we wouldn’t want to be buying anything other than the best equipment.

“Cramlington is very important to us and it will continue to be, and this establishment will allow it to continue to build and grow.”

Both investments were unanimously approved by members of the cabinet.