AN £8.6 million centre of excellence in Ulverston for children with special needs will be handed over this week.

Contractors representing Cumbria County Council have created a new 80-space Sandside Lodge Special School after cutting the first sod in June 2018.

The ageing former buildings at Sandside Road were declared not fit for purpose and the aim is to provide modern facilities for those aged 2 to 19 with severe and profound learning needs.

It includes features such as a hydrotherapy pool, a sensory integration room, and on-site physiotherapy. The school will move to share the site of Ulverston Victoria High.

Cllr Sue Sanderson, the county council cabinet member for schools, and chair of governors for Sandside Lodge said the keys will be handed over on Friday.

She told a county council meeting: “We are hoping the children will move in on September 17 and that is the date we are looking at. Moving from one building to the new one is going to be a community event. We have had lots of volunteers offering lorries and vans to help move to the new building. What it means is the school is now in the heart of Ulverston instead of being on the outskirts.”

“It is £8.6 million of the council’s money and it’s something really special and the builders, Paul Seddon, have been fantastic and have worked through the night to get it finished.”

Cllr Sanderson, the Liberal Democrat councillor for Cartmel, praised the new facilities including the hydrotherapy pool and rebound therapy which involves trampolining.

The new development also offers an immersion room and hoists which allows children with limited mobility to be clipped on and transferred to various parts of the school far more easily than before.

Ulverston Labour councillor Mark Wilson expressed his support for the update on the scheme.

The pupils have learning difficulties with many having additional and complex needs such as autism, physical disabilities, and sensory impairments.

In its last Ofsted inspection in 2017, the school was again found to be ‘good’ with parents commenting that their children are ‘happy, safe and well cared for’.