Proposal for new independent school for children struggling in mainstream education on well-known site

Kieran Molloy, Local Democracy Reporter

A proposal for a new independent school for children “who struggle in mainstream education” on the site of a well-known charity farm has been put to council planners.

Therapeutic service Smooth Starts Plus has put plans to Vale of Glamorgan Council to start an independent school on the site of the Amelia Trust Farm.

According to its website, the Amelia Trust Farm provides a “safe countryside environment for the local community to appreciate spending time in nature” so people can “enjoy the mental and physical benefits” of being outdoors.

For three decades, it has provided therapeutic support to children “who struggle in mainstream education”.

Planning documents read: “The proposed school formalises, as full-time registered education for the children whose needs it cannot otherwise reach: those for whom a conventional, school-like setting in a town is itself the barrier to attendance.”

Regarding the new school, it will take up to 12 pupils between the ages of four to eleven.

The application reads: “The farm is part of how children are supported every day, not an enrichment activity.

“Every child spends time outdoors every day. Farm, woodland and allotment sessions — animal care, horticulture, woodland activity and practical jobs — are timetabled elements of the school week, and each child’s contact with animals is set out in their individual plan.”

It continues to say that each child’s day will be built around individually designed programmes involving heavy work, nature and outdoor activities as well as animal care as a means to which the child will become “settled enough to engage with learning”.

These are called “defining features” which cannot be replicated in a traditional school setting.

The school is planned to be centred on Wildflower house, which has been deliberately designed without “the sensory and institutional characteristics of a school building” as, according to the applicant, “is what makes attendance possible”.

According to the applicant, demand for education otherwise than at school (EOTAS) is rising across Wales.

In 2024-25, 3,014 pupils, or 6.5 per 1,000 students, were engaged in EOTAS provision – the highest rate recorded in Wales.

Additionally, the rate of pupils educated mainly outside school has almost tripled since 2009-10.

All pupils will arrive either by the school’s own staff collection service or by a commissioned taxi service.

The application reads: “The proposal re-uses an existing building within an established charitable site, involves no building works of any kind, and delivers education for children who cannot otherwise access it — a need evidenced by Welsh Government statistics and by the Council’s own education service.”