GREAT ALNE SCHOOL TO REOPEN AS A SEND SPECIALIST FACILITY; BUT IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN CLOSED

When Reform led Warwickshire County Council decided to close Great Alne Primary, Manuela campaigned to keep the school open, citing the significant impact closure would have on the village and its families. After doors closed this year, she continued her campaign to keep the school site open as an educational establishment. Now, the Council propose to reopen the school as a SEND specialist facility.

Commenting on this, Manuela Perteghella MP said:

“I am pleased that our call to keep Great Alne open as an educational facility has been answered with a new school that will provide SEND spaces. I take calls every week from parents who feel trapped by the lack of services for their children with special needs. We know that students and parents are being failed by systems that cannot cope with demand.”

“However, specialist provision could have been integrated in the mainstream primary school, maintaining choice for all families in Great Alne. 

Commenting on village schools, Manuela Perteghella MP said:

“Local village schools are a core part of the fabric of a community. In these small communities, having a place for all children to go to school, where they can ideally walk in or commute safely, is the best option for children and parents. 

“This local school was central to community life in rural Great Alne and closing it, instead of working with the school and support it, was short sighted and completely lacking in strategic direction.

“It also disregarded the direction of travel. Under this Labour government, rural areas nationwide are being forced into taking the brunt of new housing developments, and one of the many reasons why people oppose new developments is because of the knock-on effect to local infrastructure. People rightly worry about healthcare access, school places and local transport network overwhelm.” 

“Now that this plan has been proposed, we will hold Reform to account and make sure this happens.”

Councillor James Norris added:

“Reform closed a village school that families needed, then tried to take the credit for what replaces it.

“For decades Great Alne averaged over 100 pupils, well above the 70 the council's own officers say it needed. Numbers only fell after years of leadership turmoil and a poor Ofsted. By October 2025 the school had turned the corner and was out of special measures. Less than three weeks later, Reform rushed through an urgency decision to start closing it.

“That wasn't a school failing. That was Reform giving up on it.

“Manuela Perteghella MP and local Liberal Democrat councillors fought to keep Great Alne open every step of the way. We spoke against it at scrutiny and at Cabinet, and we called the decision in. Reform pushed it through anyway.

“Warwickshire badly needs more SEND places, and they should have come alongside a village school, not instead of one. We won't let Reform rewrite what happened.”