Mill School Bury, which opens today, will support children and young people with autism and social, emotional or mental health difficulties. It is part of Kedleston Group, which operates 13 specialist residential and day schools, along with children’s homes, across the UK.

Based in Bury’s Wellington Street, the school will be able to support up to 50 young people across Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 including children who have not been able to have their needs met in mainstream schools.

The school recently received registration from Ofsted and the Department of Education and welcomed its first young people this morning. As it will support children who are vulnerable and those with an education health care plan, the school is able to support children of different age groups immediately.

Headteacher Shazia Sarwar-Azim said: “We are thrilled to welcome our first young people into school today. It’s a very exciting time for everyone involved with Mill School Bury and we can’t wait to welcome more children and young people over the coming days and weeks.

“Our school provides a specialist learning environment with lots of different indoor and outdoor areas which are designed to be therapeutically and educationally beneficial.

“We also create individual curriculums which help young people achieve meaningful qualifications to set them up for further education, training or employment. These creative curriculums can also help improve attendance, behaviour and progress.”

The specially-designed and state-of-the-art learning environment offers a calm and welcoming environment and includes two sensory rooms – one based on light, the other on sound – a Forest School and other outdoor learning environments.

To support the needs of children with an autism spectrum condition, these enabling environments will see the use of muted colour schemes, specialist lighting, individual work stations and visual communication. There will be outdoor horticultural areas where, as well as horticultural activities, children can also engage in science lessons.

The school also features a rebound area with therapeutic trampolines, a 360-degree ICT room which works with smells and other sensory elements and a room which can be varied depending on a child’s needs – helping them deal with any phobias or anxieties they may have.