Another milestone for new special school build in Swaffham

A building project which will create 27 new special school places and a state-of-the-art new school for 224 children with SEND has passed another milestone. 

The Fred Nicholson Special School in Dereham is moving to a new site in Lynn Road Swaffham to a bigger and brand new building, enabling it to better accommodate its growing number of pupils. The expansion will create new school places for early years and infant school (Key Stage 1) children. 

It's part of Norfolk County Council's multi million pound Local First Inclusion programme, which provides a range of new wraparound support and expertise to mainstream schools to help them support children with SEND and is creating more specialist capacity in specialist resource bases (SRBs) and special schools. 

A ceremony was held recently to mark the new building's topping out - which is a traditional celebration marking the completion of the roof and weathertightness of the building. 

Children from Fred Nicholson attended with their teachers alongside local construction company R G Carter, design partner colleagues from NPS, and officers from Norfolk County Council, which is funding and commissioning the new school. 

Councillor Penny Carpenter, cabinet member for Children's Services at Norfolk County Council said: "It's fantastic to see this impressive new school taking shape. The building and its state-of-the-art facilities will offer an outstanding specialist environment for the learning and development of children with SEND." 

Alex Mackay, Construction Director at R G Carter said: "R G Carter was delighted to welcome key stakeholders, students and staff to celebrate this exciting milestone. 

"The topping-out ceremony is a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase progress to those that will be using the building on completion, as well as thank everyone involved in the journey so far. We look forward to bringing Norfolk County Council's vision to life and completing this much-needed new SEN provision for the benefit of its students, staff, and the local community." 

Heidi Philpott, Headteacher of Fred Nicholson School, said: "It is incredibly exciting for our learners to be included in this celebration, offering them the opportunity to see their new school taking shape. We are all looking forward to the move and being able to learn together in a school with purposeful and modern equipment and facilities."  

Cllr William Nunn, local member for Swaffham, said: "This ceremony brings us another step closer to this wonderful new school opening in our town. We look forward to welcoming the children and teachers to our community." 

The new building is three-storeys with 17 main classrooms, dedicated areas for sixth form and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) provision, and specialist teaching areas for life skills, sensory immersion and sensory and physical development.  

The relocated school is due to open in spring 2026. 

In the last five years Norfolk County Council has: 

• Built three new special schools creating a combined 358 new school places 
• Expanded existing special schools to create a further 289 new school places

This is a 41% increase in the number of special school places in Norfolk. 

The Fred Nicholson School relocation and expansion is part of plans to deliver another 77 new special school places through expansion projects. 

The council is currently waiting for a DfE decision on a further two new special schools in Downham Market and Great Yarmouth which would deliver another 270 places.