PLANS to convert a farmhouse and its grounds in Bassaleg into a school have been given the go-ahead, paving the way for a Newport private special school to expand and relocate there.

Greenfields School, currently based in the city's Stow Park Avenue, could move to the site at Graig-Y-Saeson Farm in Forge Road.

A design and access statement with the plans says the school is for learners “who have been disengaged from education”.

In a statement,  head teacher Jennifer Parry said: “We are registered to support learners aged nine to 16, having recently been granted a change in our age range allowing us to support learners in Key Stage 2, allowing earlier intervention.”

The school has occupied its current site for seven years, but increased demand since the closure of Mounton House School near Chepstow, means it needs a bigger site.

Currently the school can support only up to 20 learners, but if it moves to the Bassaleg site that number could double.

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In 2019, Newport council’s additional learning needs and inclusion officer, Nathan Criddle said in an e-mail to Ms Parry that expansion would be beneficial to the council, as it would “allow us to invest in your school by placing more young people from within the borough, thus preventing them from being placed out of county.

“It will also save us, as an authority, with our transport costs because we will be able to keep them within the Newport borough boundaries.”

The Bassaleg site plan will see the farmhouse and grounds converted into a school with five classrooms across two floors. Two more classrooms would be provided via demountable units. The grounds will include a climbing wall.

The decision report says: “The pupils are a mix of looked-after children living in residential care homes and day pupils from Newport and the surrounding areas.

“The school specifically caters for pupils who have been subject to adverse childhood experiences, with developmental difficulties and additional learning needs.”

While the farm itself has animals on the site, this would be kept separate to the school, and will continue to be run by the farm manager who lives in a bungalow on the site.