A BRADFORD special school has submitted plans for a major extension to its school building.

Southfield School, part of the Southfield Grange Trust based in Little Horton, plans to create new classrooms and offices to provide better education for its students.

The school, rated Good by Ofsted, has around 280 students with special educational needs or disabilities aged 11 to 19, up from 200 six years ago, and has plans to expand its provision even further.

If approved, the extensions would create an extra 153 sq metres of floor space, and existing facilities will also be refurbished to provide the best possible facility for students.

In its design and access statement, the Trust said: “The proposed scheme looks to expand the existing building to create space for children with special educational needs.

“Drop off points and car parking amenities also to be provided for Southfield Grange School on opposite side of the road.

“The development is a single floor extension to the existing buildings with rooms including classrooms, offices and breakout spaces and car parking towards the east of the building.

“Given the needs of the students, the extension to the existing building and layout of the rooms are designed to meet requirements for suitable learning conditions.

“The proposed development takes into consideration the restrictions of the site and existing buildings. The proposed design ensures that the extension doesn’t over shadow the existing buildings.”

Dominic Wall, headteacher of Southfield School and chief executive of the Southfield Grange Trust, said: “Southfield School, and The Southfield Grange Trust work in close partnership with Bradford Council to provide the best possible SEND provision for Bradford children and their families.

“Over the past two to three years we have witnessed a massive growth in the demand for places at Southfield School, which has expanded from 240 to 280 students and is at full capacity.

“In January the Department of Education approved an application to expand Southfield School by 100 places.

“This planning application is for the start of this expansion.”

Last year, Mr Wall said Bradford will need to create three new special schools to cope with increasing demand for places, after the number of children with special educational needs and disabilities rose by 50 per cent since 2010.

He said Bradford Council is “doing all it can to get more children into school, but unless we get money to build whole schools we will not solve the problem”.

Bradford Council said it was creating 295 new specialist places from nursery to secondary school at specialist and mainstream schools across the district last year.

Mr Wall, a national leader of education, added he is disappointed an application by Bradford Council to create a new special free school for children on the autism spectrum was unsuccessful earlier this year.

He said: “The Bradford district has dozens of children with autism crying out for specialist places.

“As a school, we are doing everything possible working with the Council in Bradford to expand the number of specialist provision places to meet the needs of these special children.”