Proposed new special free school in West Northamptonshire

West Northamptonshire Council has identified the need to provide additional specialist school places for children and young people, preferably to the south-west of Northampton, within reasonable travelling distance of Towcester, Daventry and Brackley.The need is for places for pupils with autistic spectrum conditions (ASC), speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) and severe learning difficulties (SLD). To address these needs, the council is conducting a procurement exercise to find an academy trust to open and run a new special free school providing up to 250 places from September 2024. To comply with section 6A of the Education and Inspections Act, 2006 (the ‘free school presumption’) the council must, in the first instance, seek proposals to establish a free school from appropriately skilled, experienced and successful academy trusts.Under the free school ‘presumption’ route, West Northamptonshire council is responsible for funding the proposed new school and providing