School Could Get £3.95m For Expansion

Meadowfield School, on Swanstree Avenue, could receive a boost of £3.95m towards expansion plans.

KCC (Kent County Council) Councillors will decide later this week whether the school, whose pupils are children with severe and complex needs from the ages of 4 through to 19, should increase it's size by an additional 150 pupils.

Cllr Roger Gough, Kent County Council's Cabinet Member For Children, Young People and Education, told SFM News: "Currently the school has gone over 209 and has 282 students. We plan to expand it to 348 to meet the needs of the area. This is part of a general set of expansions for special schools that we have needed to do. This is to meet the demand for places for children with profound, severe and complex needs. Over the last three years there has been an increase in places needed including children who have autism."

A report conducted by KCC shows that children on the Isle of Sheppey are travelling more than 20 miles to Maidstone and Tonbridge to schools due to a lack of places in the Swale area.

Meadowfield has been rated outstanding by Ofsted in every category and has been praised for its "outstanding leadership and management".