Sir Bobby Robson School will be a 60-place special school for boys and girls in the age range – 8-16 with Social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs.

Located in Ipswich, the school will be run by Unity Schools Partnership and will be based on a mainstream model of education with an SEMH specialism.

Suffolk County Council have set out that there is a need for additional high quality capacity in the Ipswich area. Their pupil forecast shows the total school population will increase significantly over the next five years with corresponding increases in the number of children with social, emotional and mental health needs.

Currently pupils with this type of profile are either being educated in pupil referral units for extended periods of time or are being educated in out of county settings. Suffolk are committed to improving the outcomes for these pupils and wherever possible educating them within Suffolk.

The overarching vision for the school is to provide individualised support for all students and prepare them to become successful independent adults that make a positive contribution to their community, hence becoming valuable members of a better society.

The Trust believes that an ambitious, well-planned curriculum is essential for not only achieving successful academic outcomes but also in effectively meeting the social, emotional and mental health needs of their learners.

The National Curriculum will be followed because the Trust aspires that pupils will achieve educational standards commensurate with mainstream settings.

As the school develops the Trust will ensure that there are additional therapies in place as part of personalised programmes of learning. Occupational and speech and language therapy that will be in place from opening.

The Trust will also ensure that the pupils will be fully supported by educational psychologists.