An upgrade to The Valley School in Stevenage, complete with a new "state of the art" building, is near completion.

A "topping out" ceremony was held on Monday this week, where pupils joined county councillors, school staff, contractors and project officers to get a unique view from the top of their new school. 

The event marked the completion of the roof, which is a significant milestone in the development of the multi-million-pound school for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The children were excited about being allowed on the roof of their new school, which is due to open during the autumn term.

David Pearce, headteacher at The Valley School, said: “We can’t wait to come into the new school so that students get the quality of provision they deserve.

"There are just so many different parts of the school which are going to bring so much joy to so many different children. As the headteacher it is amazing that we will be able to complement our high-quality teaching with a learning environment that our young people can really enjoy.”

Executive member for education, libraries and lifelong learning, Cllr Caroline Clapper, added: “This is a tremendous milestone in our commitment to invest and expand provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities, which equates to more than £82 million over the next five years.

“Delivering an additional three hundred permanent places for children with SEND at our schools while developing resource provision in mainstream schools demonstrates our commitment to delivering excellent council services.”

The Comet: The Valley School topping out ceremony

This future expansion is in addition to having increased the number of places at special schools by 448 in the last five years.

Rising to tackle the increase in the number of children with SEND across the county, the council has also recently proposed an additional investment of £5 million into its statutory SEND service to make sure that children and young people have their additional needs identified and regularly assessed.

The Valley School buildings had originally been designed to be used by a mainstream secondary school, which then became a SEND school in 1991.

The current building is coming to the end of its serviceable life, with maintenance costs increasing.

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David added: “The environmental efficiency will also means that we’re able to direct more funding into the education of the children, which will really benefit them. This is giving the students, teachers and support staff the best of the best, which we know will be utilised to its maximum potential.”

The new Valley School, with its enhanced environmental credentials, "will be much more sustainable and efficient to run and maintain in the future helping the county council to meet its ambitious aims of making its operations carbon neutral by 2030".

The Comet: Cllr Caroline Clapper speaking with a pupil at The Valley School topping out event

The innovative design has been brought to life by local contractors Ashe Construction. 

“To see the Valley School project reach this notable milestone is an exciting achievement, said Ian Robbins, managing director at Ashe Construction.

“We’ve been involved in this project since early design concepts and our team really understand the need for this brand-new purpose-built school.

"With our head office in Hitchin, we’re delighted to be working in partnership with Hertfordshire County Council once again, on this highly sustainable building for the council, and look forward to completing what will be our third Net Zero Carbon in Operation scheme.”

For information and resources to help you support a child with special educational needs, visit the local offer at https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/microsites/Local-Offer/The-Hertfordshire-Local-Offer.aspx