'Lifeline' Thanet school to shut as London council cuts funding

BRADSTOW School in Broadstairs, which provides residential education for autistic children from across the south east, is to be closed next month after the London council which supports it decided it could no longer bear the running cost.

- By CHARLOTTE LILLYWHITE

Wandsworth Council's cabinet agreed to close the school at a meeting on November 3 after hearing that this was the “only option” left due to its financial challenges.

Council officers had recommended the closure after completing a public consultation in September.

The council had delayed shutting the school to allow governors more time to secure its future by turning it into an academy, but the Department for Education rejected these plans and advised the authority to move ahead with closure.

The school’s business manager, Polly Benton, said the school would have been financially viable if it had been allowed to admit new pupils this year, given recent cost reductions. Speaking on behalf of Bradstow’s principal and governors, she asked the cabinet for more time “to make an informed decision about academisation”.

A total of 12 children still attend the school, including one child from Wandsworth.

Ms Benton said: “Bradstow School has for generations been far more than a school. It has been a lifeline, a place of safety, understanding, and hope for some of the most vulnerable children and families in our community.