Work begins on £8.5m expansion creating 74 specialist school places in Coventry
Construction has begun on an £8.5 million expansion of Baginton Fields Academy that will create up to 74 additional specialist school places for young people in Coventry.
Pupils made a ceremonial cutting of ground in the summer, joined by staff from the academy, Thrive Education Partnership, main contractor Jeakins Weir and Lungfish Architects as well as representatives from Coventry City Council which is funding the project.
The scheme will deliver a new teaching building, a replacement hydrotherapy pool elsewhere on the site, and a full internal and external refurbishment of the existing 1960s school. Capacity will rise from 126 pupils to 200 when the works complete in September 2027.
Lungfish Architects has designed the new building around the way specialist education works in practice, with extensive natural daylight and acoustic treatment intended to keep the sensory environment calm.
Baginton Fields Academy is part of Thrive Education Partnership, a specialist multi-academy trust comprising seven special needs academies and two autism-specific satellite provisions.
Headteacher Vikki King said: "This matters enormously to Baginton Fields and to the families who rely on us.
"The new building will let us welcome more young people, but capacity is only part of it. We will have an environment built around our pupils, and the facilities our staff need to help every young person go as far as they can.
"Our pupils have been fascinated watching the work start. Seeing their own school grow around them is going to be something they remember."
Richard Chapman, CEO of Thrive Education Partnership, said: "Baginton Fields dates from the 1960s and was never designed for the complexity of need we support today. This investment will change that fundamentally.
"Demand for specialist places in Coventry is acute, and we are pleased to be working closely with Coventry City Council on an investment of this scale. Growth like this also means we will recruit more specialist staff and bring fresh expertise into the school."
Councillor Abdul Salam Khan, Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Equalities at Coventry City Council, added: “I am delighted to see work begin at Baginton Fields Academy. This will create more specialist school places for Coventry children, whilst transforming the learning environment for existing pupils. Every child deserves access to the support and education they need, and this investment will help make sure we are able to provide that for pupils, their families and the wider community.”
The refurbishment will modernise classrooms and internal areas across the existing academy, with external improvements bringing the older building into line with the new development.