New Rush Hall School to Grow From 80 to 140 SEND Places

Redbridge’s only special school for children with social, emotional and mental health needs is 23 pupils over the size it is funded for.

New Rush Hall School in Hainault is commissioned for 80 places and has 103 pupils on roll. The council wants to take it to 140. On 10 September it published the decision that starts the formal process, and once the statutory notice goes out there is a four-week window in which anyone can object or support.

The decision was taken by Cllr Lloyd Duddridge, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, and it is a key delegated decision that may be called in. The report is on the council’s decision register.

What is being proposed

The school is on Fencepiece Road, Hainault, IG6 2LB. It takes pupils aged 5 to 16, all of whom have an Education, Health and Care Plan, and social, emotional and mental health difficulties as their primary need. The Department for Education’s register records 67 of its pupils as eligible for free school meals, which is 72 per cent.

The proposal is narrow and specific:

• increase the commissioned capacity from 80 places to 140
• with effect from 1 September 2027
• funded through the Department for Education’s Special Provision Capital Fund

The council’s report calls it part of its wider SEND sufficiency strategy. The money is not yet signed off: the report says a provisional allocation has been identified in the SEND capital programme, and that final capital approvals will be sought separately before anything is built.

The number underneath it

The gap between what the school is funded for and how many children are in it has been widening, and it is not the only Redbridge special school in that position.

The DfE register carries a capacity and a roll for each school, last confirmed on 29 June 2026. All three of the borough’s community and foundation special schools are over.

New Rush Hall’s figure in that table is 94, not 103. The register reflects the January 2026 school census; the council’s report is dated this month. Read together, they show the roll rising through the year against a ceiling that has not moved.

Why the council says it matters

The report’s risk section is blunt about what happens if the places are not built. It says demand for specialist SEMH provision may keep outstripping in-borough capacity, and that failing to increase local provision “may increase reliance on out-of-borough and non-maintained independent placements”.

Those placements are expensive, and children travel to them. The council makes the same argument on money: increasing local provision “has the potential to reduce reliance on higher-cost out-of-borough and non-maintained independent placements”.

Cllr Duddridge put it more plainly in a separate announcement this week, about a different school: “For too long, too many children have had to travel outside the borough to access the education and support they need.”

The other half of the week: Hatton’s new site

That quote came from the opening of Hatton Special School’s second site, announced on 10 September, the same day as the New Rush Hall decision was published. The council says it spent £10.9m on it and that the school is welcoming pupils this week.

The new building is in Park Avenue, Ilford, on the former site of Park School for Girls. That was an independent school for girls aged 4 to 16, and the DfE register records it as closed on 5 July 2023 with 123 pupils. Hatton’s original site is on Roding Lane South in Woodford Green, which will continue.

The council lists the new building as having:

• 11 classrooms
• PE and studio spaces
• a library
• a canteen

Hatton takes children aged 3 to 11, so it does not overlap with New Rush Hall’s 5 to 16 SEMH intake. The two announcements are separate projects at different stages: one is open, the other is a proposal that still has to survive a statutory process.

What happens next, and when you can comment

The council ran a pre-publication consultation on the New Rush Hall proposal back in 2024, between 25 October and 29 November, with an event on 13 November. It drew 27 responses: 23 in support, 3 neutral and 1 objection.

That was the informal round. The statutory process that the council has now approved has four steps:

1. Consultation. Done, in 2024.
2. Publication of the statutory proposal and notice. Just approved. As of 13 September the notice had not appeared on the council’s school consultations page.
3. Representations. A statutory four-week window for anyone to comment or object, starting from the date the notice is published.
4. Determination, by the council or by an independent schools adjudicator.

One loose end is named in the report. The Redbridge Music Service currently sits in the John Savage Centre on the school site, and the report says the expansion “may have implications” for it. The council says it is committed to exploring ways to expand the service’s reach, and that any implications will be handled through later feasibility work and separate decisions. No detail has been published.

What it means for you

• If your child has an EHCP naming SEMH needs: nothing changes yet. The extra places are proposed for September 2027 and are not approved.
• If you want to object or support: wait for the statutory notice, then you have four weeks. Watch the council’s school consultations page, not the news feed. It was not there on 13 September.
• If you use the Redbridge Music Service: the report flags the John Savage Centre as affected and gives no answer. That is the thread worth following.
• If you are looking for a special school place now: the council lists the borough’s five special schools and its Additional Resource Provision schools on its SEND school places page, and says you should contact schools directly to arrange a visit.
• Moving into the borough: in-year admissions run through a separate route, and our planning news and house prices pages cover what else is changing locally.

Frequently asked questions

How many places does New Rush Hall School have?

It is commissioned for 80 places and had 103 pupils on roll when the council reported on it in September 2026. The Department for Education’s register, confirmed on 29 June 2026, records a capacity of 80 and 94 pupils.

How many places is the council proposing?

140, from 1 September 2027. That is the figure in the statutory proposal the Cabinet Member has approved for publication.

How do I object to or support the expansion?

Once the statutory notice is published there is a four-week window for representations. The notice had not appeared on the council’s school consultations page as of 13 September 2026, so there is nothing to respond to yet.

Who takes the final decision?

The council, or an independent schools adjudicator, after the representation period closes.

What happens to the Redbridge Music Service?

The council’s report says the expansion “may have implications” for the service, which sits in the John Savage Centre on the school site. It says any implications will be handled through later feasibility work and separate decisions. Nothing more has been published.

Sources

• New Rush Hall School: Approval to Publish Statutory Proposal and Statutory Notice, Redbridge Council decision record published 10 September 2026, for the 80 commissioned places, the 103 pupils on roll, the proposed 140 places from 1 September 2027, the 2024 consultation and its 27 responses, the Special Provision Capital Fund, the four-step statutory process, the risk and value-for-money wording and the Redbridge Music Service implication.
• Get Information About Schools, Department for Education, URN 102879, confirmed 29 June 2026, for New Rush Hall’s address, age range, capacity of 80, roll of 94, free school meal eligibility and SEMH designation. Hatton Special School is URN 102881, Little Heath School URN 102878 and Park School for Girls URN 102873.
• New Hatton Special School opens its doors for Redbridge children with SEND, Redbridge Council, 10 September 2026, for the £10.9m investment, the Park Avenue location, the 11 classrooms and other facilities, and Cllr Lloyd Duddridge’s quote.
• Redbridge school consultations and school places for children with special needs, checked 13 September 2026.

This article reports what the council’s own decision record and the Department for Education’s register state. No decision has been taken on the expansion itself.