Hill View Special School, a rectangular building prominently displaying its name in yellow letters, opened its doors to students in September 2024. The school has a unique, purpose-built facility that serves 60 local children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It is run by the Oak Partnership Trust. Even within its first month, the school ran into significant challenges in execution. These challenges were rooted mostly in serious concerns with the integrity of the building’s infrastructure.
What happened at Hill View Special School has left local authorities reeling. And so, the Somerset Council has now invested almost £1.5 million in supplemental funding to tackle those hurdles. The council’s executive has now approved £1,433,000 from the dedicated schools grant (DSG) to subsidise the school. At the moment, the school is predicting a shortfall of £868,000 before the end of this academic year.
The council expects the petitioning school’s enrollment to more than double, with 20 additional kids set to attend the school this fall. This influx is key for the independent school. It is coming under pressure to stop it going broke, something that would leave it with little choice but to re-merge with the DfE unless enrolment and revenue rapidly escalated.
Calderdale Councillor Frances Nicholson has been an outspoken advocate through the crisis, sharply criticizing the DfE’s chosen design and contractor for their failings. She stated, “What is absolutely outrageous is that the council is being asked to carry the can for the DfE.” That’s a strong statement to make, and it embodies this deepening anger of local leaders about who should be held accountable for the school’s operational failure.
“The urgency of more impactful solutions is further highlighted by the considerable resources required to build such alternative educational spaces. The cost of providing alternative spaces for children who could not be schooled at Hill View runs into the many millions of pounds. Fixing this is the least these children deserve. By September they should be able to use the bulk of the building, and we are expecting 20 more children to enter the school in the autumn, with a further 20 pupils joining in February 2026.”
The difficulties that plague Hill View Special School are representative of systemic problems with Somerset’s education system. The council is projecting that its Dedicated Schools Grant deficit will exceed £100 million. This increase will make it even harder for them to produce the quality educational spaces all children deserve.
Hill View Special School is making some real strides in addressing its operational issues. With Somerset council’s pledge to deliver more funding, there is hope the school — and the children it caters for — have much more positive futures ahead.
