Special school's relocation could make it among UK's biggest

A specialist school in Coventry is relocating in a £26m project to become the biggest of its kind in the country.

The number of students who need SEMH (social, emotional and mental health) support from Woodfield School is so high, they are moving to the nearby former Woodlands Academy after October half-term.

The current site, which used to be the old Meadows residential boys school, still has original features such as bathtubs next to classrooms and even bars on the windows in one room.

The older pupils from the school and the primary school students, who have been based at a site on Stoneleigh Road, will all be taught in the new location from November.

SEMH covers a wide range of emotional, behavioural and mental health difficulties that can affect a child's learning and wellbeing.

Some children with SEMH needs attend specialist schools where staff and support are tailored to help them engage with education and manage those challenges.

The old schools were packed up on Friday and the BBC went for an exclusive look around the old Meadows School site, which is well-known in the community, having been there since the 1970s.

Headteacher Nico De Groot said it was never really fit for purpose and they have had to adapt old living quarters into classrooms.

He said: "It was built in 1973 for borders. There are old dormitory blocks, there are baths in the corners of some of the classrooms so we've had to be really creative over the years to turn things like the old shower units into little cubicles and spaces for the children to work in."

Nicky Clark has been working at the school for 20 years. She said the creativity of the staff to be able to accommodate those studying in the building has been "amazing".

She added: "It's been a privilege to work here and see it change. I think the staff have been wonderful and the students have adapted to whatever challenges of the building has put in their way."

Lisa Harris started working at the school more than 30 years ago. She said it was sad to say goodbye to the building.

She began in the laundry room and did the washing for the boys who boarded there, but is now staff in the pastoral care department.

She added: "It's quite emotional because it's like your family, you know. You've lived your life there from your twenties, and now I'm in my sixties. It's just a lovely place.

"Back when I started we had the three dormitories and every night there'd be two care staff that slept in in the sleeping flat.

"Then we became what we are now and what we're going to be when we get up to the new site, which is very exciting. We've managed with this and it's been brilliant, but our students and our staff deserve what we're going to get up there."

The former Woodlands Academy site will now become Woodfield Academy after controversially closing down as a boys-only school in 2016. It was declared unviable because of a drop in demand for single-sex education and merged with Tile Hill Wood Academy girls' school.

During its 10 year closure, the site was used as a filming location for BBC series Phoenix Rise.

De Groot says their move to Woodlands will mean they can grow over the next five years to be able to take on nearly 300 pupils.

He added: "At that point we will be probably one of the biggest SEMH schools in the country. We see it as a really amazing opportunity to to develop curriculum and practices that are some of the best nationally.

"We feel that it's an opportunity to put Coventry on the map for the quality of its education with the needs that our children have."

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