The new purpose-built Paddock Secondary and Sixth Form School opened its doors this week, bringing 64 additional specialist places for children with special educational needs and disabilities to Wandsworth.
The £41 million school on Broadwater Road in Tooting marks a major upgrade for students who previously attended Paddock’s old site on Priory Lane in Roehampton. The new building features accessible classrooms, therapy spaces, and modern outdoor areas designed specifically around the needs of young people with SEND.
Students celebrated the opening by burying a time capsule filled with their artwork and performing with the school’s own boyband, The Blue Boys.
“Walking through these doors every morning, you can feel the excitement and pride of our pupils and staff,” said headteacher Sarah Santos. “The building has been designed around the needs and aspirations of our young people, and we can already see the positive impact it’s having on their confidence, engagement and joy in learning.”
The expansion is part of the council’s investment in creating 271 specialist education places since 2021, reducing the need for families to travel outside the borough for SEND provision.
But one question remains unanswered
While the new school opening is welcome news, residents on the Lennox Estate – where the old Paddock building sits – have been asking for months what will happen to the now-empty facility.
The council hasn’t provided clear answers about the future of the Priory Lane site. Will it be converted for community use? Redeveloped for housing? Demolished? Residents living next to the empty building say they deserve to know, especially when the council is pushing plans for a tower on the estate’s main green space – a development strongly opposed by residents – while the school’s footprint and future remains uncertain.
It’s a basic transparency question. The building is a public asset in the heart of a residential community, and people naturally want to know what happens in their neighborhood.
The information gap is particularly notable given recent events around another SEND facility. When the council closed Bradstow School in Kent this week, Putney.news revealed that the official narrative about the closure didn’t match reality – few people had actually fought to save it, despite claims otherwise.
For now, Paddock’s students are settling into their new school – a genuinely positive development for SEND provision in the borough. But the question hanging over the old building remains.
