New school provision open to support children with mental health needs

Becton School – an Ofsted Outstanding hospital school for young people with medical and mental health needs and part of Nexus Multi-Academy Trust – has opened its new site at Chapel House, Hillsborough Barracks at an event onsite on Friday 15 October 2021. The building will be formally opened by Nick Matthew OBE, The Children’s Hospital Charity patron, former three-time world champion squash player, and a passionate advocate for children’s health and wellbeing.

The new site is supporting young people whose medical needs mean they cannot attend their mainstream school. These are mainly young people with mental health needs and the new site allows for an increase in places, as part of the city’s response to this growing need, hastened by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chapel House is one part of Becton School’s outstanding offer for young people across the city and the wider region in partnership with Sheffield Children’s Hospital – with educational spaces at the main Sheffield Children’s Hospital site and at the Becton Centre in Beighton.

The addition of the new site also frees up space for Becton’s Kenwood provision to expand – a specialist education offer for young people with autism and mental health needs in Nether Edge.

Becton Executive Headteacher James Gibson said: “We know there are more young people with mental health needs that need the right offer. We also know we can provide that so long as we have the right space. Chapel House is a wonderful place to further develop our curriculum and to continue improving the outcomes and realising the potential of our amazing young people. Our students are already making the most of it and crucially we know there is some space for a further growth in numbers in the coming months.”

Nexus MAT Chief Executive Warren Carratt said: “We are so excited to be opening this much-needed provision in such a fantastic new space. Nexus MAT was created to make the education system better in our area and we are thrilled to be working with our families, Sheffield City Council, and Sheffield Children’s Hospital to co-produce the new provision and bring some much needed capacity for children and young people with mental health needs in the region.”

Sheffield Children’s Medical Director Jeff Perring said: “We are delighted to partner with Becton School to provide vital education to our patients across the Trust and in the community.

“Their school provision to our Becton Centre and to our acute hospital is fantastic and provides young people who aren’t able to attend school with the opportunity to access crucial education whilst undergoing treatment. It supports our holistic approach to patient care.

“The introduction of Chapel House is another opportunity we are grateful to have, for young people to continue their education in the community when their medical needs mean that they are unable to attend a mainstream school.”