Woodview
Proposals for expanding our provision at Woodview School, Five Oaks
Welcome
We are pleased to share our emerging plans with you for expanding our provision at Woodview School.
A planning application has now been submitted to Horsham District Council. This will shortly be available on the Council’s planning portal website.
This page has been created to provide you with an overview of our plans and what they will mean for our school community. Once complete, we will be able to provide enhanced, specialist support for a greater number of students with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN). The expanded provision will strengthen our integrated model in which speech and language therapy, occupational therapy and high‑quality teaching are brought together within a nurturing and purpose‑designed environment.
Woodview currently supports 43 students, and we are proud of the positive progress and outcomes the school has enabled to date. Our plans seek to build on this success by expanding the provision to accommodate at least 60 pupils in future years.
Below you will find information to help you understand our plans.
What we are trying to achieve
Since opening as a specialist hub in September 2022, Woodview has been making a real difference to children and young people with SCLN.
Many of our students join us from mainstream primary schools, but benefit from a smaller, more nurturing school setting. Demand for this type of specialist support continues to grow locally. To ensure more children and families can benefit from what Woodview offers, we are looking to expand the school by creating additional classrooms and improved facilities.
The ability to communicate is the most fundamental life skill for children, directly affecting their ability to learn, to develop friendships, and their future life chances. We want to be able to offer this to more children and young people in our area. To do that, we need to expand the school to create space for additional classrooms and facilities. By investing in Woodview, we are investing in brighter futures for children across our community.
About the Site
The site is located within the grounds of Ingfield Manor School, near Five Oaks, Billingshurst.
This is a brownfield site that has been previously developed to accommodate seven two-storey houses, garages, and a three-storey hostel building. These buildings have not been used for a long time, and are now in poor condition, with the gardens overgrown.
Woodview currently has some classrooms, but there are too many trees nearby to accommodate the new facilities.
In 2019, planning permission was granted for a 16-bed residential care home, which would have included the demolition of the existing buildings.
The Proposals
Our proposals to expand the school are to demolish the existing buildings on the site and build a new extension to the existing Woodview School. Development will be restricted to the northern part of the site, which is currently buildings and hardstanding. This will protect the woodland area to the south from being developed.
The plans include:
- Four phases of development, delivering new classrooms and facilities for children with SCLN
- Sports hall
- Drop-off and pick-up area
- Improvements to pedestrian access
- Car parking
- School playground
- Drainage improvements
- Landscaping and planting
The proposed school buildings are one storey, minimising their height and visual impact, while ensuring safe disability access throughout. We have chosen the site of the former three-storey hostel building for the sports hall, as this is the tallest of the existing buildings and will therefore reduce visual impact.
View of a similar single-storey school building
Landscape and Ecology
It is really important to us that we responsibly look after our environment, and create a space where people can enjoy nature.
We have undertaken a range of surveys and assessments on existing plants, wildlife, and the landscape, which have helped us design our proposals.
For that reason, we have chosen the abandoned buildings on our site as the location for our school expansion, as this will minimise the impact on the green areas. The overwhelming majority of trees will be retained, with only a small number requiring removal to bring the development forward.
Our plans will improve the existing habitat for wildlife and encourage biodiversity, which will not only benefit plants and animals, but also create a pleasant environment for our pupils, and create opportunities for them to learn about nature.
Drainage
Our designs will carefully manage rain and surface water, using sustainable drainage systems to hold water and release it gradually over time. The development includes drainage ponds and swales to help direct and manage water. This will ensure that the drainage situation is no worse than it is at the moment, and we believe it will deliver improvements.
Transport and Access
The school is accessed directly from the roundabout at Five Oaks, on Stane Street. The access lane passes through the school site to provide access to Slinfoldland Farm to the west.
The proposed development is accessed from a short road called Woodland Close, which runs into the site allowing access to the abandoned buildings.
As part of the planning application, a travel plan will be agreed with West Sussex Council. Pupils will largely be travelling to and from school by minibus and taxi. As such, there should be no noticeable increase in traffic. Parking and a bus loop will be provided on site to accommodate staff, disabled, and visitor parking.
Community Benefits
Expanding Woodview School will help us to support more children with SCLN, giving them the best opportunity to flourish in a safe, quiet, and pleasant learning environment.
In addition to this, we are hoping to be able to make some of our facilities, such as the new sports hall, available for use by the community outside of school hours. This should offer a new place for local clubs and groups to use for meetings and activities.
Community Engagement
We have carried out a public consultation on our proposals, which included an opening evening event on Friday 13th February at Ingfield Manor School.
Thank you to all of those who took part in our consultation. We have now submitted a planning application to Horsham District Council, which will shortly be available on the Council’s planning portal website.
