Bexley’s Mayor joined a special event in January 2019 to mark the start of construction of the new Cleeve Meadow School in Sidcup for children with special educational needs. The new school will be designed to provide specialist education for 120 pupils aged 11-19 with moderate learning difficulties.  

The new free school will have 12 teaching rooms, a therapeutic hub, large open plan library and IT space. Facilities will also include a specialist music department, performing arts centre and a full-sized artificial football pitch that will also be available for Cleeve Park School pupils to use. Outside of school hours, the facilities will be available for community use. The first pupils from will be welcomed from September 2019 with the building work scheduled to be complete by Spring 2020.

The school has been made possible by Central Government funding, along with a £2million contribution from the London Borough of Bexley who are also leading the project on behalf of the Department for Education (DfE). The Kemnal Academies Trust (TKAT) will manage the school as part of its family of 44 Academies across London and the South of England.

Built within the grounds of Cleeve Park School, Bexley Lane, the building has been designed by architects Pozzoni. The construction contractor is GallifordTry.

Bexley’s Mayor, Cllr Brian Bishop and Mayoress Cllr Christine Bishop were guests of honour at the ground breaking event held at Cleeve Park School. Other special guests included Bexley Council Leader, Cllr Teresa O’Neill OBE, Cabinet Member for Education Cllr John Fuller and local ward Members.

Children from Cleeve Park School joined in the celebrations and enjoyed a virtual fly-through film of the proposed new school before taking part in a cake cutting ceremony to mark the occasion.

Dr Karen Roberts TKAT CEO said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to create a centre of excellence in Sidcup and work collaboratively to improve the life chances of our pupils. It’s great to see our vision for the new school becoming a reality”

Headteacher of Cleeve Park School, Jenni Tyler-Mayher said: “I’m excited to build a new school community; Cleeve Meadow School will bring a variety of opportunities to both students and staff."

Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr John Fuller said; “This new school will help us to realise our goal of educating Bexley children within Bexley wherever possibly we can. By careful forward planning each year we meet the demand for school places for our mainstream pupils but places within the borough for local children with different needs can be a challenge. The new Cleeve Meadow School will make a huge difference and seeing work get underway is a brilliant way to start the new year.”