Empty primary school poised to reopen as specialist facility for SEND children

A photo of the former Baden Powell Primary School. Image: Hackney Council

A Hackney primary school that has stood empty since its closure last year is set to reopen as a special school.

After a collapse in pupil numbers, the council closed Baden Powell Primary alongside three other schools in August 2024 and merged it with the nearby Nightingale Primary School.

Later that year, Mayor of Hackney Caroline Woodley said the council was eyeing up “at least one” of the now-empty buildings to be turned into a school for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

On 5 November, the Town Hall confirmed it planned to reopen the former Baden Powell site as a new specialist facility for 48 pupils.

“By investing into this now-vacant site, we are continuing to meet our commitment to create over 300 high quality places for the use of our children with SEND, and give new life to the building,” said Mayor Woodley.

The reopened site would be part of an expanded Ickburgh School, which is based in Homerton.

If agreed, the old school will undergo significant refurbishment to meet pupils’ needs, including specialist rooms for art and food technology and improved staff and therapy spaces.

The council added that the new school would ease its reliance on placing SEND children in more expensive independent schools or facilities outside of the borough, while also creating more jobs.

In Hackney, more than one in five children have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or receive SEND support – higher than both the London and national averages as of January 2025.

Proposed new entrance to the school. Image: Gollifer Langston Architects

This year, the borough ranked 23rd in England for the number of pupils with EHCPs.

Labour ward councillors for the area, Sem Moema and Michael Desmond, said the plans showed their party was meeting the challenge from Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson.

Phillipson has urged councils to “think creatively” about how closed schools could address the SEND crisis hitting Britain’s education system.

“We are very pleased to see Baden Powell school take on a new life which will benefit so many vulnerable young people in Hackney, particularly in Hackney Downs ward,” said Cllrs Moema and Desmond.

Green councillor Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, who also represents Hackney Downs, welcomed the news that a school with a “long history in the community” would remain in the hands of the council.

He hopes to see other closed sites used for community benefit.

“We know from listening to parents that this is a much-needed provision, and that more investment is needed,” he said, adding that his party would continue to lobby government for more money for children’s and youth services.

The council published its statutory notice on 6 November, and residents will have until 3 December to share their views on the plans.

If approved, works would begin next year with an anticipated opening in September 2027.

Baden Powell shut in August 2024 along with three other Hackney primaries – Randal Cremer, De Beauvoir and Colvestone – following an unsuccessful public campaign to keep the schools open.

The local authority is currently weighing up a raft of submissions from community groups as to how to repurpose the empty Grade-II listed Colvestone building, including one proposal to transform it into a “vibrant cultural and educational hub”.