A SPECIAL needs school is hoping its plans for a new outreach centre will get the go-ahead from Basildon Council.

Essex County Council, on behalf of Castledon School, in Wickford, has applied to build a self-contained 122m by 122m building in the school’s grounds.

The building would be used to provide outreach training facilities for staff, parents and other organisations, to help them deal with children who have special needs.

Headteacher Carole Clift said: “As well as being a special needs school, we are also responsible for providing outreach help for mainstream schools, so they can keep youngsters with learning difficulties in their schools.

“At the moment we just haven’t got the space. When we have training sessions we have to use a classroom, which disrupts the children.”

The project would be funded under the Primary Capital Programme, a Government initiative dedicated to investing more in primary schools.

If Basildon Council agrees to the project, work should begin in February and finish in July.

Essex County Council education spokesman, Toby Allanson, said: “We are pleased to have reached this stage of the planning process and look forward to the committee’s decision.”