New special educational needs school will be built in Denton

A vacant office building will be transformed into a new special educational needs (SEN) school in Denton.

The Denton Centre was formerly Denton Central Primary before it closed in 2005 and later became council offices. It has been unused since 2023, but now plans for it to become a SEN school have been approved.

School Phoenix Schools (South) Limited wants to create a facility that would support children with special educational needs who are unable to attend mainstream schools.

The Acre Street site would cater for 40-50 children, taught in small groups. A proposed staffing structure comprises an estimated 31 staff including a  headteacher, administration workers, teachers and teaching assistants, according to planning papers.

The original playground will be reinstated with car parking bays removed from the play area. The developers also plan to install a 3m fence around the site to ‘ensure the safety of pupils’.

The new school would  be operated for 39 weeks of the year and be open Monday to Friday from 8.30am until 4pm.

Planning papers read: “The combination of the height of the existing enclosure and mix of wall and railings which provide an opportunity for children to get a foothold to climb the fencing, represents a significant safeguarding risk for the school.

“Not withstanding the high staff to pupil ratio to ensure close supervision of pupils, if a pupil becomes stressed or anxious in a particular situation, there is a high risk that the pupil could attempt to escape from the school grounds if the existing boundary treatment remains in place.

“Whilst teachers and staff are highly trained to deal with such situations and can use some level of physical intervention, if the school grounds are surrounded by low level fencing, there is a high risk of that child attempting to climb the fence, putting themselves and staff at risk of injury.”

The planning application has been approved by Tameside council, who hope this will soon provide much-needed special needs school places in the area.