The Meadows School is planned to be built on a council-owned car park in Enfield Town, reports James Cracknell

Portcullis Lodge Car Park in Enfield Town and (inset) Search Education Trust

An education trust has been named as the winning bidder to run a new special needs school set to open in the centre of Enfield Town.

Following approval from the Department for Education (DfE), The Meadows School will be run by Search Education Trust, which will provide specialised education and tailored support to 96 children with complex needs aged from four to eleven years.

Search Education Trust, established in 2013, runs two existing special schools in Haringey borough. Heartlands High School in Wood Green and The Grove School in Tottenham are rated ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ by education watchdog Ofsted, respectively.

The Meadows School will operate as a ‘free’ school, a type of state-funded school that is independent of local authority control.

It will be built at Portcullis Lodge Car Park, just off Silver Street in Enfield Town. The site was first identified four years ago by Enfield Council as it was deemed to be no longer needed.

DfE announced two years ago that it would fund construction of the school at a cost of £12.9million.

At around the same time, it was reported the council’s special educational needs and disabilities (Send) service was receiving 700 requests for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) every year, the highest number in London, after demand had doubled in just five years.

EHCPs are legal documents outlining how a child’s special needs should be handled by teachers.

According to Search Education Trust, The Meadows School will “offer a range of subjects and learning experiences to cater to the diverse needs and interests of its children, so every lesson remains fun and exciting”.

Staff will also be “highly trained to work collaboratively and deliver personalised support” and focused on “supporting children’s social and emotional wellbeing, helping them to form positive relationships and become more independent”.

Elen Roberts, the trust’s interim chief executive, said: “We are very privileged to be given the opportunity to open this school.

“Our team has the expertise, experience, and passion to ensure that this new provision will be excellent for the young people of Enfield. We would like to extend our thanks to the Department for Education and Enfield Council for their unwavering support thus far. We look forward to building strong partnerships across the borough to support our ongoing success.”

Abdul Abdullahi, the council’s cabinet member for children’s services, said: “As a council, we recognise the increasing need for Send provision. Therefore, this announcement is a huge win for our children with complex needs in Enfield.

“Our vision is for all our children and young people to have high aspirations and to achieve positive outcomes regardless of their background and abilities.”

Cllr Abdullahi added that Search Education Trust would “deliver exceptional educational provision and create an inclusive, stimulating and supportive environment that will help each child to reach their full potential”.

Enfield North MP Feryal Clark has also welcomed the news and said: “The Meadows has the potential to make a real difference by creating much-needed specialist places here in Enfield, and I know this will give hope to many parents who have been waiting far too long for greater certainty.”

Work will begin in the coming months to develop designs and a construction programme for the new school. It had previously been stated that the school would open in 2027, but that now seems highly improbable given that no designs for it have yet been drawn up.

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