Kingfisher School to reach great heights

£2.5m funding go-ahead

A £2.5MILLION building programme will transform a school into one of the country’s best for disabled and special needs children.

Cabinet members gave the go-ahead for funding at Kingfisher School, Chadderton, through Oldham’s Primary Capital Programme.

The money will enable staff to give pupils the very best facilities in an environment equipped to suit their special needs.

Councillor Kay Knox, Cabinet member for children, young people and families, said work to overhaul the borough’s only primary school for pupils with the most severe and complex special needs and disabilities needed to be carried out as soon as possible.

The school, in Foxdenton Lane, was created in 2001 by the merger of three special schools.

Medical advances mean children with much more severe disabilities are surviving, and the school needs to be adapted to provide the specialist facilities they need.

A spokesman for the school said: “Kingfisher School is extremely excited to be included in Oldham’s Primary Capital Programme.

“The council and the Unity Partnership have been working closely with the school and support our vision for providing the very best for the children of Oldham.

“We have been working with a team of architects to come up with a plan for the school based on our philosophy and vision that will ensure Oldham’s children with complex and severe needs have the very best provision now and in the future.

“We have been lucky as the whole team have really understood what it is we are trying to achieve for the children.

“They have worked hard to incorporate designs based on Kingfisher’s philosophy. Visiting other schools has confirmed that our vision is forward-thinking and needs-led.

“We always return to school celebrating the outstanding nature of Kingfisher and how the future-driven planning will support us in the future.”