Wigan special needs college's new home proving a hit with staff and students

The sixth-form provision at Hope School relocated to the former Central Park campus on Montrose Avenue, Pemberton, at the start of the academic year in September.

College students study educational and vocational qualifications, learn independent living skills and skills for future learning and employment.

The state-of-the-art facility has a kitchen and canteen where pupils make lunches and desserts for their friends as well as a bistro which is student-led.

Head of College Nicola Holland said: “The new site has offered us so much more than what we had at the previous site in terms of space and the local community.

"We offer a three-year programme for our young people, they come to us in year 12 and we transition them through to year 14 and beyond as part of our education offer.

"The students are particularly loving the outside space, our previous site didn’t have any for college students. They’re loving playing football and just being more physical outside.

"We’ve also got access to the sports hall which will be a shared facility when everybody moves here which gives them indoor space for our lunch time provision.

"The staff are loving being over here. It is very different we are separate from the other school so I think we will welcome everybody back onto the new site.

"Having the space that we’ve got with the wider corridors and things like the sensory space we can utilise is definitely better.”

The plans for the enlargement and upgrading of Hope School and College are part of a major investment project by Wigan Council and long-term plan to transform SEND education provision across the borough.

The transformation was set to go ahead in 2019 following concerns the current site was becoming increasingly not-fit-for-purpose, but was delayed by the pandemic.

The first phase of the construction works was completed in March 2023.

The second phase includes construction of a new build primary and second age facility along with the demolition of other redundant buildings on Montrose Avenue, which is aiming to be completed in August 2025.

The council has also made significant investment for improvement and enlargement in Oakfield school in Hindley.

Rowantree primary special school in Atherton has been added to the Department for Education’s (DFE) rebuilding programme and plans are already under way to start the modern new build on a new site so as not to disrupt the current teaching and learning of its pupils.

Wigan Council is hoping to get additional capital funding from the DFE for special schools Landgate, in Bryn, and Willow Grove Primary in Ashton to be modernised over the next five years.

Only Newbridge Learning Community School in Platt Bridge stands to be unchanged.

Cabinet Member for Children and Families, Coun Jenny Bullen, said: “It’s been fantastic to visit the new sixth-form buildings and to see so many of the students benefiting from their new facilities.

“This project is a major part of our wider plans to improve our provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities across the borough.

“The new facilities have been designed with our young people in mind and I can see that pupils and staff are already thriving in their new surroundings.”