{"id":6093,"date":"2026-05-15T13:35:47","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T13:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/?p=6093"},"modified":"2026-05-15T13:41:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T13:41:08","slug":"wolsey-park-woodham-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/?p=6093","title":{"rendered":"Wolsey Park Woodham School"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"6093\" class=\"elementor elementor-6093\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-590167b e-flex e-con-boxed e-con e-parent\" data-id=\"590167b\" data-element_type=\"container\" data-e-type=\"container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"e-con-inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c7cdeb2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"c7cdeb2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-e-type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Sir John recently visited the site of Wolsey Park Woodham School, which is currently under construction and due to open in 2028. The new specialist school will provide education for pupils aged 11 to 16 with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities across Mid Essex.<\/p><div class=\"\" data-turn-id-container=\"request-WEB:6ec37ea2-5173-4324-9607-a8b7fdb93f7d-4\" data-is-intersecting=\"true\"><div class=\"relative w-full overflow-visible\"><section class=\"text-token-text-primary w-full focus:outline-none has-data-writing-block:pointer-events-none [&amp;:has([data-writing-block])&gt;*]:pointer-events-auto R6Vx5W_threadScrollVars scroll-mb-[calc(var(--scroll-root-safe-area-inset-bottom,0px)+var(--thread-response-height))] scroll-mt-[calc(var(--header-height)+min(200px,max(70px,20svh)))]\" dir=\"auto\" data-turn-id=\"request-WEB:6ec37ea2-5173-4324-9607-a8b7fdb93f7d-4\" data-turn-id-container=\"request-WEB:6ec37ea2-5173-4324-9607-a8b7fdb93f7d-4\" data-testid=\"conversation-turn-10\" data-scroll-anchor=\"false\" data-turn=\"assistant\"><div class=\"text-base my-auto mx-auto pb-10 [--thread-content-margin:var(--thread-content-margin-xs,calc(var(--spacing)*4))] @w-sm\/main:[--thread-content-margin:var(--thread-content-margin-sm,calc(var(--spacing)*6))] @w-lg\/main:[--thread-content-margin:var(--thread-content-margin-lg,calc(var(--spacing)*16))] px-(--thread-content-margin)\"><div class=\"[--thread-content-max-width:40rem] @w-lg\/main:[--thread-content-max-width:48rem] mx-auto max-w-(--thread-content-max-width) flex-1 group\/turn-messages focus-visible:outline-hidden relative flex w-full min-w-0 flex-col agent-turn\"><div class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col gap-4 grow\"><div class=\"min-h-8 text-message relative flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 text-start break-words whitespace-normal outline-none keyboard-focused:focus-ring [.text-message+&amp;]:mt-1\" dir=\"auto\" tabindex=\"0\" data-message-author-role=\"assistant\" data-message-id=\"ef2692ee-32e5-482f-a804-bf33ae7b4bf0\" data-message-model-slug=\"gpt-5-5\" data-turn-start-message=\"true\"><div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden\"><div class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert wrap-break-word w-full light markdown-new-styling\"><p data-start=\"283\" data-end=\"498\">During the visit, Sir John met with Andy Hodgkinson, Chief Executive of <span class=\"hover:entity-accent entity-underline inline cursor-pointer align-baseline\"><span class=\"whitespace-normal\">Zenith Academy Trust<\/span><\/span>, to discuss plans for the development and the need for specialist educational provision in the area. Sir John recognised the urgent need for more specialist school places, particularly for families in more rural parts of Essex such as the Dengie Peninsula, where access to suitable provision can involve lengthy travel times.<\/p><p data-start=\"500\" data-end=\"790\">Alongside the Wolsey Park Rayleigh site, the Woodham site is expected to help increase local SEND capacity significantly, providing up to 150 places for children with complex needs who require a specialised and personalised curriculum.<\/p><p data-start=\"1019\" data-end=\"1230\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Welcoming the project, Sir John sees the new school will make a valuable contribution to educational provision across the area by supporting children who require a more specialised and personalised curriculum.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sir John Whittingdale visits the Wolsey Park Woodham School construction site, highlighting the urgent need for specialist SEND school places and supporting expanded educational provision across Mid Essex.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[75,77,74,73,76],"class_list":["post-6093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-conservativemp","tag-midessexschools","tag-sendeducationessex","tag-sirjohnwhittingdale","tag-wolseyparkwoodham"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6093"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6099,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6093\/revisions\/6099"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}