Bromsgrove school for autistic students opens its doors with funding boost from Lloyds Bank

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Nicky Godding

Lokrum Fields, a new school providing specialist support to help students with autism, anxiety and additional needs, has opened its doors for the first time in Bromsgrove after receiving a funding boost from Lloyds Bank and approval from Ofsted.

Wider Ambition, the operator of Lokrum Fields, used the £650,000 finance package from Lloyds Bank to transform a six-bedroom residential bungalow in Bromsgrove into a specialist day school that can accommodate up to 18 nine-to-sixteen-year-old pupils.

Students will enjoy a challenging and enriching academic curriculum tailored to their individual needs that will enable them to achieve the same qualifications as their peers in mainstream education. The school will also offer life skills classes and outdoor learning.

The building has been designed to provide a safe and comfortable environment for all students, with specific quiet collaborative spaces, sensory areas and no school bells, to ensure that all pupils feel comfortable in the space and receive the tailored assistance they need to thrive.

Wider Ambition was established in 2019 to help provide more learning opportunities to enable students who may not be suited to mainstream education to reach their full potential.

Alison Chalmers, director at Wider Ambition Ltd, said: “We invested in Lokrum Fields after becoming aware of a significant local need for educational provision for academically able students with autism or anxiety. Our new school provides a safe, home-from-home environment with specialist teaching and therapeutic support to help students achieve academically and fulfil their aspirations.

“The support Lloyds Bank has given us throughout the process has been invaluable and we look forward to working alongside them in the future, which includes plans to invest in a sister site, supporting students from age fourteen with further access to GCSEs, A Levels and other post-16 qualifications.”

David Chance, Relationship Director at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: “Wider Ambition has shown an incredible commitment to supporting young people with additional needs in Worcestershire and the surrounding counties with their new school building. It has been a pleasure to support their efforts and we hope that it will provide huge benefit to those youngsters that need additional support.

“We will continue to be by their side throughout their journey and are on the lookout for more opportunities to support other ambitious projects in the area.”

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.