March 22, 2018 8.20 pm This story is over 78 months old

New free school for excluded children to be built on St Giles estate in Lincoln

No objections from councillors.

A new free school for excluded children who would otherwise not receive suitable education will be built on the St Giles estate in Lincoln.

Councillors on City of Lincoln Council’s Planning Committee unanimously voted through Wellspring Academy Trust’s at a meeting on Thursday, March 22.

The school would be based off Macaulay Drive

The new two-storey building will include teaching facilities, food and drink areas, music rooms, a fitness suite, and a main hall, with a games area created for children outside.

It will be a similar size to the adjacent Myle Cross Centre, and access will be from Macaulay Drive.

Thirty teachers and other members of staff will be employed, with the school providing education for up to 63 children between the ages of five and 16.

School will start at 8.45am and finish at 2.45pm, except on Fridays when it will close at 1pm.

Children will stay on site at all times during the school day, including lunch breaks.

Pupils will arrive either by taxi or minibus.

It would be next to The Myle Cross Centre

The Department for Education defines an alternative provision free school as “education arranged by local authorities for pupils who, because of exclusion, illness or other reasons, would not otherwise receive suitable education”.

It includes education arranged by schools for pupils on a fixed period exclusion and students “being directed” to off-campus provision to improve their behaviour.

Up to 63 pupils would be taught at the school

Wellspring Academy Trust is a provider of alternative provision schools, operating 11 across Yorkshire and Humberside.

The trust became the sponsor of Lincolnshire’s only pupil referral unit (Springwell Lincoln City Academy) in April 2017, a unit covering the whole of the county.

Wellspring has plans for other schools in Grantham, Mablethorpe and Spalding.