An application for £800,000 has been submitted to enhance facilities at a new secondary school in Nuneaton. The funding would cover specialist SEND provision at Higham Lane North Academy and accommodate primary school children at the same site.

According to CoventryLive, Watling Meadows Primary School, which was scheduled to welcome its first pupils this September, has experienced delays. As a result, reception-year children will instead begin their schooling on a temporary basis at Higham Lane North.

The £800,000 sum will finance a standalone modular structure at the back of Higham Lane North Academy, comprising two teaching rooms, lavatories, sensory facilities, group areas and multi-purpose spaces.

Its primary purpose will be to deliver SEND resourced provision for as many as 20 pupils holding an Education, Health and Care Plan whose principal need relates to communication and interaction.

However, initially the facility will serve children who were expected to begin reception at Watling Meadows Primary School, which operates within the same academy trust as Higham Lane North.

Documents from Warwickshire County Council state that complications with site servicing and the resolution of specific planning conditions have caused setbacks, meaning the permanent school building is now expected to be finished by late January 2027.

Consequently, an interim arrangement for September 2026 is necessary to accommodate Watling Meadows Primary School for approximately six months while construction of the permanent structures continues.

The proposal involves housing Watling Meadows Primary School temporarily at Higham Lane North Academy, which sits roughly 1.5 miles from where Watling Meadows Primary School will eventually be located.

The plan involves constructing a self-contained modular building at the rear of Higham Lane North Academy with two classrooms, toilets, sensory, group and multi-purpose rooms. This temporary structure would provide the additional space Higham Lane North Academy needs for its SEND resourced provision, but between September 2026 and February 2027 it would be utilised by Watling Meadows Primary School.

A determination on the expenditure from the county council’s High Needs Provision Capital Allocation, a grant received from the Department for Education, had been scheduled for last week but was deferred.

Instead, on March 23, Councillor Stephen Shaw, the cabinet member responsible for finance and property, is expected to give the proposal his approval.