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Local authority applications to open a special free school: waves 3 and 4

Updated 16 May 2024

Applies to England

If a local authority appears more than once, this indicates that they have submitted more than one application.

Wave 4 successful local authorities

This list shows all the local authorities whose applications were successful for opening a new special free school in their area for the special free school wave 4, which was announced 26 March 2024.

Local authority	Proposed number of full time equivalent places (not including nursery places)	Proposed age range	Proposed SEND designation
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole	156	4 to 19	Autistic spectrum disorder
Buckinghamshire	152	7 to 19	Social, emotional, and mental health
Bury	80	4 to 11	Autistic spectrum disorder, speech, language, and communication needs
East Riding of Yorkshire	120	5 to 19	Social, emotional, and mental health
Enfield	48	11 to 17	Autistic spectrum disorder
Hampshire	125	8 to 16	Social, emotional, and mental health
Harrow	292	4 to 19	Severe learning difficulties, autistic spectrum disorder
Herefordshire	70	4 to 16	Autistic spectrum disorder, severe learning difficulties
Lincolnshire	154	5 to 16	Social, emotional, and mental health
Newham	100	4 to 19	Autistic spectrum disorder
Nottinghamshire	160	7 to 18	Autistic spectrum disorder, social, emotional, and mental health
Solihull	150	11 to 19	Severe learning difficulties
Stoke on Trent	54	8 to 19	Autistic spectrum disorder
Surrey	150	11 to 16	Social, emotional, and mental health
Walsall	304	4 to 19	Autistic spectrum disorder, severe learning difficulties, social, emotional, and mental health, speech and language communication needs, moderate learning difficulties, profound and multiple difficulties
Westmorland and Furness	130	4 to 19	Autistic spectrum disorder, speech, language, and communication needs, social, emotional, and mental health

Wave 3 successful local authorities and approved trusts

This list shows all the local authorities whose applications were successful for opening a new special free school in their area, the names of the approved trusts, and the proposed school names.

Local authority	Name of approved trust	Name of proposed school	Proposed number of full time equivalent places	Proposed age range	Proposed SEND designation
Barnsley and Sheffield	Ethos Academy Trust	Inspire Academy	200	7 to 16	Autistic spectrum disorder
Bath and North East Somerset	Three Ways School	Green Ways Academy	120	4 to 19	Autistic spectrum disorder, severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties
Birmingham	Open Thinking Partnership	Frankley Hill School	400	4 to 19	Autistic spectrum disorder
Birmingham	Wellspring Academy Trust	Springwell Birmingham	120	14 to 19	Social and emotional mental health, autistic spectrum disorder
Blackpool	The Sea View Trust	Blackpool SEMH Free School	56	7 to 16	Social and emotional mental health
Bracknell Forest	The Propeller Academy Trust	Forest View Academy (Bracknell Forest ASD)	100	5 to 19	Autistic spectrum disorder
Bristol	Enable Trust	Bristol Specialist Provision	164	4 to 19	Autistic spectrum disorder, social and emotional mental health, severe learning difficulties, cognition and learning
Central Bedfordshire	Oak Bank School	Biggleswade SEMH Academy	130	5 to 19	Social and emotional mental health
Cheshire East	Application process to be re-run		120	11 to 16	Autistic spectrum disorder
Darlington	The Education Village Academy Trust	The Garden Village School	48	11 to 19	Autistic spectrum disorder
Devon	Transforming Futures Multi-Academy Trust	ACE Cranbrook	70	9 to 16	Autistic spectrum disorder, social and emotional mental health, cognition and learning, speech, language and communication
East Riding of Yorkshire	The Education Alliance	North Star School	120	5 to 19	Social and emotional mental health
Enfield	SEARCH Education Trust	The Orchard	96	4 to 11	Autistic spectrum disorder
Hampshire	Solent Academies Trust	Whiteley Academy	135	4 to 19	Severe learning difficulties
Hillingdon	The Eden Academy	Hillingdon Special Free School	180	4 to 19	Autistic spectrum disorder, moderate learning difficulties
Isle of Wight	Application process to be re-run		75	9 to 16	Autistic spectrum disorder, social and emotional mental health
Leeds	Ethos Academy Trust	Aspire Academy	200	7 to 16	Social and emotional mental health
Leicestershire	MacIntyre Academies Trust	Achieve Academy	90	10 to 16	Communication and interaction, moderate learning difficulties, autistic spectrum disorder
Middlesbrough	Horizons Specialist Academy Trust	Fairfax Primary Academy	90	4 to 11	Autistic spectrum disorder, social and emotional mental health, speech, language and communication
North East Lincolnshire	Wellspring Academy Trust	Springwell Grimsby	150	8 to 19	Social and emotional mental health
North Yorkshire	Wellspring Academy Trust	Springwell Northallerton	120	8 to 16	Social and emotional mental health
Salford	The Co-operative Academies Trust	Co-op Academy Salford	150	4 to 11	Autistic spectrum disorder, communication and interaction, speech and learning difficulties
Somerset	North Star Academy Trust	North Star Wells	64	9 to 16	Social and emotional mental health, speech and language communication needs
South Tyneside	Prosper Learning Trust	South Tyneside Special Free School	56	4 to 11	Social and emotional mental health
Suffolk	Unity Schools Partnership	Unity SLD School	117	4 to 16	Severe learning difficulties
Surrey	London South East Academies Trust	Frimley Oak Academy	170	11 to 19	Social and emotional mental health
West Sussex	The Beckmead Trust	Beckmead Wealden Academy	130	4 to 18	Autistic spectrum disorder, social and emotional mental health
Wiltshire	Brunel Academies Trust	Bitham Park School	130	4 to 19	Social and emotional mental health
Windsor and Maidenhead	Chiltern Way Academy Trust	Chiltern Way Academy Windsor and Maidenhead	100	7 to 16	Social and emotional mental health
Wokingham	Ascendancy Partnership Trust	Strawberry Fields School	120	4 to 19	Moderate and severe learning difficulties
Wokingham	Ascendancy Partnership Trust	Rooks Nest School	120	4 to 19	Social and emotional mental health
Worcestershire	MacIntyre Academies Trust	Enterprise Academy	120	5 to 19	Autistic spectrum disorder

Local authorities who applied

This list shows all the local authorities who submitted an application to open a new special free school in their area in 2022.

Lead local authority	Type of special school
Bath and North East Somerset	Autistic spectrum disorder, severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties
Bedfordshire	Social and emotional mental health and additional complex needs
Birmingham	Social and emotional mental health and autistic spectrum disorder
Birmingham	Autistic spectrum disorder
Birmingham	Autistic spectrum disorder
Blackpool	Social and emotional mental health
Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole	Autistic spectrum disorder
Bournemouth, Christchurch, and Poole	Autistic spectrum disorder and social and emotional mental health
Bracknell Forest	Autistic spectrum disorder
Bracknell Forest	Social and emotional mental health
Bradford	Autistic spectrum disorder, social and emotional mental health and communication and interaction needs
Bristol	Social and emotional mental health, speech and language, cognition and learning needs, autism spectrum disorder and severe learning difficulties
Buckinghamshire	Social and emotional health
Bury	Autistic spectrum disorder and speech and language communication needs
Calderdale	General learning difficulties and social and emotional mental health
Cheshire East	Autistic spectrum disorder
Cheshire East	Social and emotional mental health
Cumbria	Autistic spectrum disorder
Cumbria	Autistic spectrum disorder
Darlington	Autistic spectrum disorder
Devon	Cognition and learning needs, autistic spectrum disorder, social and emotional mental health, speech and language communication needs
Ealing	Severe learning difficulties and autistic spectrum disorder
East Riding of Yorkshire	Social and emotional mental heath
East Riding of Yorkshire	Social and emotional mental health and speech and language communication needs
Enfield	Autistic spectrum disorder
Enfield	Autistic spectrum disorder
Essex	Severe learning difficulties
Essex	Severe learning difficulties
Gloucestershire	Moderate learning difficulties
Gloucestershire	Moderate learning difficulties
Greenwich	Autistic spectrum disorder and severe/complex learning difficulties
Hampshire	Severe learning difficulties
Hampshire	Social and emotional mental health
Harrow	Autistic spectrum disorder, severe learning difficulties
Havering	Autistic spectrum disorder, social and emotional mental health, severe learning difficulties
Herefordshire	Autistic spectrum disorder and severe learning difficulties
Hertfordshire	Severe learning difficulties
Hillingdon	Autistic spectrum disorder and moderate learning difficulties
Isle of Wight	Autistic spectrum disorder and social and emotional mental health
Lambeth	Autistic spectrum disorder, social and emotional mental health, speech and language communication needs
Leeds	Social and emotional mental health
Leicester	Autistic spectrum disorder and speech and language communication needs
Leicestershire	Communication and interaction
Lincolnshire	Social and emotional mental health
Luton	Social and emotional mental health
Manchester	Autistic spectrum disorder, severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties
Manchester	Autistic spectrum disorder, severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties
Middlesborough	Autistic spectrum disorder, social and emotional mental health, speech and language communication needs
Milton Keynes	Autistic spectrum disorder
Newcastle-upon-Tyne	Autistic spectrum disorder
Newham	Autistic spectrum disorder
North East Lincolnshire	Social and emotional mental health
North Lincolnshire	Social and emotional mental health, communication and interaction needs
North Yorkshire	Social and emotional mental health
North Northamptonshire	Autistic spectrum disorder and communication and interaction needs
Nottinghamshire	Autistic spectrum disorder and social and emotional mental health
Oxfordshire	Severe learning difficulties, profound and multiple learning difficulties
Oxfordshire	Social and emotional mental health
Portsmouth	Autistic spectrum disorder, severe learning difficulties, communication and interaction needs, profound and multiple learning difficulties
Redbridge	Autistic spectrum disorder, speech and language communication needs, moderate learning difficulties
Rochdale	Social and emotional mental health
Salford	Autistic spectrum disorder, severe learning difficulties, communication and interaction needs
Sandwell	Severe learning difficulties, multi-sensory impairment, profound and multiple learning difficulties
Sheffield	Autistic spectrum disorder
Solihull	Severe learning difficulties
Somerset	Social and emotional mental health and speech and language communication needs
South Tyneside	Social and emotional mental health
Southampton	Social and emotional mental health needs
Stoke-on-Trent	Autistic spectrum disorder
Suffolk	Severe learning difficulties
Suffolk	Autistic spectrum disorder and social and emotional mental health
Surrey	Social and emotional mental health
Surrey	Social and emotional mental health
Swindon	Autistic spectrum disorder, severe learning difficulties, communication and interaction needs
Swindon	Autistic spectrum disorder, severe learning difficulties and communication and interaction needs
Trafford	Autistic spectrum disorder and social and emotional mental health
Wakefield	Autistic spectrum disorder
Walsall	Autistic spectrum disorder, severe learning difficulties, speech and language communication needs, communication and interaction needs, moderate learning difficulties, profound and multiple difficulties
West Sussex	Autistic spectrum disorder and social and emotional mental health
West Sussex	Autistic spectrum disorder and social and emotional mental health
Wiltshire	Social and emotional mental health
Windsor and Maidenhead	Social and emotional mental health
Wokingham	Severe and moderate learning difficulties
Wokingham	Social and emotional mental health
Worcestershire	Autistic spectrum disorder