News / Education
Hope for future of St Christopher’s
A new education provider is poised to secure the future of St Christopher’s School.
The Westbury Park school looks set to be rescued by The Aurora Group, which plans to take on the specialist education and care of the school and adult services.
Only last month it was announced that the school was to close after 70 years of work after its board of trustees found it to be “economically unviable” in the face of increasing competition, falling referrals and changes to legislation.
St Christopher’s provides care, education, 24-hour nursing, an on-site medical centre and a variety of therapies for some of the most vulnerable children and young adults up to the age of 25.
The newly formed Aurora Group is led by CEO Stephen Bradshaw, a former head teacher with nearly 40 years’ experience working within the specialist education sector, which includes establishing and running schools in the Somerset area.
He said on Thursday: “We are delighted that St Christopher’s will be one of the first schools within our group. We appreciate that with the threat of closure this has been an uncertain time for parents and families and for the children and young people themselves, so we are pleased to be able to make this announcement today.
“St Christopher’s has received overwhelming support from the local community, we want to build upon this and we look forward to taking the school to its next phase.”
Chair of the school’s board of trustees Gerhard Meyer said: “This is a great day for St Christopher’s. The Aurora team share our passion for delivering life changing special education.
“We take comfort that the children we care for and the families and staff that are affected will be cared for by the experienced team at Aurora and I’m confident that under their ownership St Christopher’s will go from strength to strength.”
Read more: ‘We should be proud of St Christopher’s’
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