Liverpool approves landmark SEND school

Backed by £37m of local authority funding, the Princes Special Educational Needs and Disabilities School in Dovecot will offer 250 places, allowing four sites to be brought together in one purpose-built facility.

Approved by Liverpool City Council at planning committee today, the primary school will offer learning and therapeutic environments for children with diverse and complex needs and who have been given an education health and care plan (EHCP).

Ridge & Partners was appointed to design the scheme through to RIBA stage 3, and remain on the project as design advisor to LCC. A competitive tender to select the main contractor is currently ongoing, with the target being to open the school in 2029.

The project, which had been recommended for approval, responds to the urgent need to replace the school’s ageing estate. Princes SEND School currently operates across four sites approaching the end of their functional life.

At present, the main Princes site is at Selborne Street, with children also accommodated at a satellite site in Picton and within two other schools, Matthew Arnold Primary and St Anne’s Catholic Primary.

The search for a contractor has started. Credit: via ING Media

Approval for the site at Colwell Road follows the £10m regeneration of Bank View School in Speke last year, which also created additional SEND places.

In Liverpool, the number of pupils with an EHCP rose by 50% between 2020 and 2024.

The design for the Princes School is a “village community layout” featuring specialist spaces including hydrotherapy pools, with opportunities for the wider SEND community to access certain facilities outside school hours.

Set out in a distinctive finger-block style, the school will also be net zero in operation.

Cllr Jo Kennedy, cabinet member for employment, educational attainment and skills, said: “This is a transformative moment for inclusive education in Liverpool. By delivering our first Net Zero in operation school, we’re investing in world class environments that put children and families at the heart of a sustainable future.

“Princes SEND School’s ‘village community’ concept brings education, therapy, and family support together in one place. Now that we have planning approval we’re ready to move quickly and get spades in the ground.

“I also want to reassure parents and carers that we remain committed to making improvements to the current Princes School buildings whilst they remain in use.”

Alice Parker, partner and education architecture lead at Ridge, said: “As soon as they said the word ‘village’, my mindset as a designer changed. It wasn’t just a destination at the end of a street, it was about extending an open arm to the community.”

Documents relating to the project can be viewed on LCC’s planning portal, reference 25F/1709.