Management at a charity-run school in Perthshire have tabled ambitious plans for expansion.
Ochil Tower School, based in eight acres of land off Auchterarder High Street, was set up nearly 50 years ago to provide specialist care and education for vulnerable youngsters.
Part of the global Camphill movement, the school teaches 28 residential pupils and 12 day placements, across five houses and three school buildings.
Now chief executive Stuart Provan has submitted a planning bid for another school building, as part of a five-year development plan.
A spokesman for the school said: “Over the past years, the size and make-up of the classes has changed depending on the needs of the pupils, as well as on the number and skills of the teachers.
“The school anticipates an ever-changing range of class requirements, and the new school building will need to cater for this by providing flexible spaces including therapy and sensory rooms located away from the high traffic areas, to allow for quiet and relaxed sessions.”
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The new two-storey block is earmarked for land to the north of the school’s Coach House Court.
If approved the new building will have eight new classrooms. The courtyard will also be refurbished.
Last year, the school highlighted its support for continued EU immigration, stressing that 80% of its voluntary workers come from outside the UK.
The Camphill movement takes its name from Camphill Estate in the Milltimber area of Aberdeen.
This was the base for the first community for children with special needs, donated by the Macmillan family in June 1940, and is now a campus of Camphill School.
The founder of the group was Austrian paediatrician Karl Konig, who wanted to look after children who had a learning disability.
Mr Konig claimed these children were social refugees whilst he and his co-workers were political ones, as they had been cast out of society in a similar way that he had been cast out of his homeland.
Ochil Tower, one of 11 Camphill communities in Scotland, places an emphasis on outdoor activities, including organic gardening.
Its five-year improvement plan was drawn up in March 2015 and includes an upgrade of the school’s Priory House to provide residential accommodation for five children.
Plans for the new building are being considered by council officers. A final decision on planning consent is likely to be made in the coming weeks.
