Plans to turn a Boston bed and breakfast into a special needs school

Owners of the Boston Lodge on Brown’s Drove have tendered proposals to Boston Borough Council, detailing their vision to turn their hospitality enterprise into an institution that supports young people with learning obstacles such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

According to the proposal, the school will have the capacity to accommodate up to 40 pupils aged between 5 and 16, in addition to potentially 30 members of staff.

School hours are planned to run from 8.45am to 3pm, with staff working hours being from 7.30am to 5.30pm.

Once up and running, it will be registered Department for Education (DFE) and will be subject to inspection through Ofsted.

Initial planning documents read: “The change of use is for educational purposes to serve as a school catering for pupils with special educational needs with each child having an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).”

If approved, the school will cover a broad spectrum of subjects including mathematics, science, expressive arts and PE, all while keeping a strong emphasis on reading and literacy.

The blueprints continued: “In order to implement this broad balanced curriculum, the classes will be small with learning broken down into small achievable parts, naturally differentiated for pupils to make their level of progress.

“Reading and literacy will be at the core of the school, if a child cannot read and comprehend then they cannot access the wider world and will be further disadvantaged as they prepare for the adult world and community at large.”

Minor construction work is needed to make the vision a reality, mainly internal alterations to make some rooms larger and increase corridor widths.