Proposal to expand Phoenix Arch Special School

Introduction

Brent Council and the governing body of Phoenix Arch special school are proposing to undertake a consultation on the future organisation of Phoenix Arch special school, namely the proposed expansion of Phoenix Arch special school onto an additional site. To start this process, the local authority and the governing body of Phoenix Arch are carrying out a consultation to gather views from staff, pupils’ families, local residents living near the proposed new school site and relevant stakeholders.

Phoenix Arch is a local authority maintained special school with a current roll of 55 pupils. All children who attend Phoenix Arch have a diagnosis of autism spectrum condition (ASC). Some children who attend Phoenix Arch also have learning disabilities (LD). Phoenix Arch is located at Drury Way, London, NW10 0NQ.

What is the proposal?

Brent Council, working with the governing body of Phoenix Arch special school, is seeking your views on the proposal to expand Phoenix Arch special school by circa. 50 places, by creating an additional ‘satellite’ school on the grounds of the currently unused Strathcona site, previously used for primary school provision. The expansion of Phoenix Arch onto the Strathcona site would create much needed additional special school placements for Brent children. The proposal to expand Phoenix Arch onto a site that was previously a school site carries the added advantages that minimal capital works and time would be required to create a provision of the highest quality, representing the potential to achieve excellent value for money.

The proposal is that Phoenix Arch would open an additional site on the Strathcona school site in September 2027. The address of the proposed site onto which Phoenix Arch will be expanded is Strathcona Road, Wembley, HA9 8QL. The new site would be a special school for circa. 50 children with ASC and LD.

What would be the name of the school?

It is proposed the school on the Strathcona site will be called ‘Phoenix Arch Strathcona’.

What are the benefits of expanding Phoenix Arch school?

• Phoenix Arch is a very well regarded and popular local authority maintained special school. It has a strong leadership team and a supportive governing body. Phoenix Arch has considerable expertise in supporting children with ASC and LD. Because of this, Phoenix Arch is well-placed to support more children in need of specialist support.
• Brent has a shortage of special school plaments for children with ASC and LD. Because of this, some children are waiting too long for a special school place in Brent or are having to travel long distances out of borough to attend school, sometimes at considerable cost. It is felt that children should be able to access high quality specialist provision close to home. Expanding Phoenix Arch will enable more children to do this.
• Expanding an existing special school can be done more quickly than creating a new special school. Creating a new special school may take many years, and further delay is unacceptable when children are waiting for a school place.
• The Department for Education (DfE) has provided capital funding to enable local authorities to create more special school places. Therefore, the costs of the capital works needed to expand Phoenix Arch onto the Strathcona site will be covered by this grant funding.
• Expanding Phoenix Arch will benefit the existing school as an additional site will necessitate the addition of further leadership capacity (to run the new site). As a larger school, Phoenix Arch may benefit from certain economies of scale e.g. purchasing resources.

Costs of Expansion

The estimated capital costs of creating a satellite site on the Strathcona site are £1m. As noted above, these costs are covered by a High Needs Capital grant that Brent Local Authority has received from the DfE. These proposed costs were approved by Brent Cabinet in January 2026.

The school’s revenue budget will not be expected to contribute to any setting-up costs without additional funding being provided to the school.

How would an expansion be implemented?

In order to expand Phoenix Arch, a consultation must take place with all stakeholders. This document forms part of this process. Following consultation, the Local Authority will take a view as to whether to proceed with the proposed expansion. As set out in the DfE’s guidance on making significant changes to maintained schools (see here), the Local Authority is the decision maker with regards to these proposals.

The consultation process

The informal consultation will start on Thursday 9th March 2026, will run for six weeks and will end on Monday 20th April 2026.

The closing date for online responses is Monday 20th April 2026 11:59pm and any hard copies returned by hand or post must be submitted to the Phoenix Arch school office by Friday 17th April 2026.

INFORMAL CONSULTATION RESPONSE FORM

Proposal to expand Phoenix Arch special school

The proposal is to expand Phoenix Arch special school by circa. 50 places by creating an additional site (known as a ‘satellite’ site) on Strathcona Road, Wembley, HA9 8QL.

We welcome your views on this proposal. Please fill in this form and return it to either school office no later than Friday 17th April 2026. You can also complete the form online at Proposal to expand Phoenix Arch special school - Informal consultation – Fill in form where responses must be received by 11.59pm on Monday 20th April 2026.

For more information contact: admin@phoenixarch.brent.sch.uk