Last week, I was delighted to see for myself the benefits of some recent capital investment to the tune of nearly £6 million on the Leek High and Meadows campus in Leek. After just four weeks in their new ‘educational home’ I was amazed at how relaxed and happy the Meadows special needs pupils were.

Everyone was sorry to see the Meadows School leave Biddulph after the fire, but the new Meadows campus style building is light and airy. The benefits of their co-location with Leek High are already being felt as the pupils have access to some state of the art sports facilities which they could only dream of at their former school and Meadows’ pupils can join in Leek High activities and classes where that is appropriate for the needs of the pupils.

I did not want Meadows to leave Biddulph but I always said that the educational needs of the pupils had to come first – and there is no doubt that this new purpose built centre provides wonderful facilities and the chance for pupils to engage in a far greater range of activities with the same highly skilled and dedicated staff.