Elmfield School Crisis – Secondary School is in a ‘shocking Situation’
Headteacher warns secondary school provision for September 2025 may not happen if new building is not found now
A Bristol secondary school for Deaf children has reached a crisis point described as “shocking” by its headteacher.
Elmfield School for Deaf Children, based in Horfield, urgently needs a new building to enable the secondary provision to open in September 2025.
Headteacher Kate Persaud along with the school’s Chair of Governors Adam Barber, took the step of approaching the Children and Young People Policy Committee last night to explain the dire situation the school has found itself in.
Persaud described the situation as both “shocking” and “difficult” and asked for “urgent action”.
Addressing the committee, Kate Persaud said: “As you can see from our statement, Elmfield School is in a bit of a difficult situation. We are a very specialist school. We provide education in British Sign Language and in spoken English. There are very few of us across the UK. Our provision is vital for the Deaf community.
“We have a primary school and a secondary school, which means I provide education for children from 3 to 16 years of age. Our secondary school is in a shocking situation in that the council has not been able to find us suitable premises.
“We are split now between two sites. I have half my secondary in a primary school setting, which is not ideal. We really are looking to the council to work with us for when an alternative provision is found. We need to be in by September next year. Because I can’t open if I don’t have a new building.
“We are working with the council. We hopefully have a site in mind that would work for us, but the time frames are incredibly tight. I don’t know when proposals will come to yourselves. But Adam and I are here to just ask you to make sure that when it comes, you really think about the worth of the investment that you might be able to give to us to open the provision.
“Deaf education is a very expensive business to provide. But we’re worth every single penny to those kids.
“To give you an idea of my typical classrooms I’ll have a teacher who’s a qualified teacher for the Deaf. So that means they’ve done a masters qualification after their teaching. If they’re a Deaf teacher and I have many Deaf teachers in my school, they have a translator in the classroom with them. So they will teach in sign language, the translator will use spoken English.
“My pupils half of them will use sign language, half them use spoken voice so we have support staff who work in both languages to allow that to happen.
“It’s the only way that Deaf children can have an equitable access to a full National Curriculum. We offer them a full National Curriculum taught by specialist teachers with specialist exams – like any child should expect from their secondary school – but within our provision.”
The primary department of the school is located on Sheridan Road on a site adjoining Upper Horfield Primary School. The secondary department is on Alfoxton Road within Fairfied Secondary School on an estate owned by Bristol City Council. The surrounding premises of Fairfield are under the control of Excalibur Trust.
The school’s head and Governing Body say that the secondary school department is not fit for purpose nor able to accommodate the number of secondary-age pupils on roll. The school is also experiencing the same bulge issue that has affected both mainstream and specialist settings in Bristol over the past ten years.
Although the school has worked with the council for some years, the head says that they were given an assurance by the council that they would be able to move into a new site in September 2024.
As this did not happen, some of the school’s secondary aged pupils are having to be taught in its primary provision.
“Half of them had already spent a year at our secondary site and felt ‘infantilised’ by being moved back into a primary school building,” the school says.
Elmfield is one of only 18 schools for the Deaf in England, with the city being one of only ten local authorities in England to maintain one. The school not only takes pupils from within the city but from surrounding local authorities.
The school is currently able to rent one small classroom from Fairfield, but it, along with others, are smaller than those required by Building Bulletin 104. These are guidelines setting out the size recommended for buildings for Disabled children and those with Special Educational Needs.
The school is unable to offer breakout spaces, intervention rooms or staff planning spaces.
A delay in funding and a lack of funding for temporary accommodation during a building process meant a solution proposed by Bristol City Council in 2021 involving Claremont Special School’s wing at Redland Green could not go ahead.
In 2023, the site of St Barnabas CE Primary School was identified as having the potential to become a new location for secondary provision.
But in 2024, Elmfield is still waiting to find out what will happen for September 2025.
The school says it is concerned about how the situation ‘impacts the wellbeing’ of all its students.
The split site is also a ‘challenge’ for staff.
The head told councillors in the meeting that it may seem to be a “big investment for a small number of children.”
But she stated that “their life choices change immeasurably by having education,” Persaud said.
Green Councillor for Southville and Committee Chair, Councillor Christine Townsend said: “There is a site that is kind of earmarked and I know that the lead officer is in discussions. And I’m also aware that those who run Elmfield know that it’s not just the two players involved because the Diocese of Bristol – whether that be the Church of England or the Catholic Diocese own buildings and land in various capacities. The site that we have in mind is a school that was relatively recently closed. Because it was a diocese school there is other elements in play.”
Executive Director of the Children and Education Directorate, Hannah Woodhouse thanked the head for raising the issue.
Woodhouse said: “I just wanted to recognise that it is urgent and it essential and it is a priority. I know we’re looking at a number of sites at the moment – including this week. I think what you’re saying about the capital priority has been heard. I wanted to give you every assurance that we’re doing everything we can to move it as quickly as we possibly can. And unblock sites where we’re working with partners as you say.
“For all provision – but particularly for Special Educational Needs provision – so that is a piece of work across the council, and we’re really recognising that this year, you have really pushed out the boundaries of what you can do in order to try and facilitate support for year 7 in particular so thank you for that.”
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