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We are delighted to share some exciting news! Elmfield School for Deaf Children has been working closely with Bristol City Council (BCC) to secure a new location for our secondary school, set to open in 2026.

Conveniently located just ten minutes from our primary school, the new site will provide easy access for both local Bristol children and out-of-authority students. This expansion marks a significant milestone, allowing us to continue our role as a centre of excellence for deaf education in the region. It also marks the beginning of an entirely stand-alone secondary school offer, with all GCSEs taught in-house by our Teachers of the Deaf. We are thrilled with this opportunity.

As a proud sign bilingual school, we remain dedicated to delivering high-quality teaching and a robust curriculum for all our pupils. Elmfield School has seen a significant growth in pupil numbers throughout the school, over the past 2 years with our Early Years provision currently oversubscribed. This new site will enable us to welcome our largest secondary cohort yet and allow our capacity across both sites to grow from 55 to 76 places.

We sincerely appreciate your ongoing support and trust in Elmfield School. We look forward to this exciting new chapter and the opportunities it will create for our students.

//www.youtube.com/embed/Q6FY5uBAJxs#t=0.5

https://news.bristol.gov.uk/press-releases/486c8316-cd8c-4a96-a5c5-4505d4b0f551/over-8-3m-approved-to-relocate-elmfield-secondary-school-for-deaf-children

Elmfield school continues to thrive and is going from strength to strength. We are gaining new pupils at a rate that allows us to offer a larger, meaningful cohort of peers. This is fantastic.

From this September all pupils in years 7&8 will be based at our new E1 primary site on Sheridan Road. They will be known as @E2. In this new arrangements, we will be delivering the whole curriculum either in-house, or by buying in additional expertise.

The clear intention for the future is that we have a new Secondary provision large enough for our whole school to be together from 11-16. We are working in close partnership with Bristol to achieve this as soon as possible.

Statement from Bristol City Council - BSL

We understand that many of you may be concerned about the delay and complication surrounding our new secondary provision. We want to assure you that we are working hard to ensure that all our students receive the best possible education.

We have made arrangements for our new Year 7 and 8 pupils to benefit from the expertise and specialist support of Elmfield School in our purpose-built primary school environment. This environment was designed with the flexibility to accommodate some secondary provision.

Elmfield School and Bristol City Council are working closely to find a longer-term provision for our secondary school from September 2025. We will share the details of this provision with you in the new academic year when they have been finalised.

We understand that this situation may cause some uncertainty, but we want to assure you that we are committed to providing our students with a high-quality education. We will keep you updated on any developments and appreciate your patience and understanding.

Kind regards,

Emma

Emma Lloyd

Head of Service, Inclusion

Bristol City Council

College Green

Bristol

BS1 5TR

January 2026

Please click here to see a letter to parents in relation tot he secondary move.

February 2024: Our official opening for Primary

We held our Grand Opening event on Thursday 29th February. With 166 people present, the event was an opportunity for pupils, staff, governors, family and professionals to all come together and celebrate this fabulous new school. Previous Headteachers Babs Day and Jeremy Law were able to come back to share the occasion.

The Mayor, Marvin Rees OBE, and Deputy Mayor, Asher Craig (Children, Education and Equalities) joined us for the morning. They were both so impressed with both the building and the pupils.

The event was covered extensively on local BBC Radio and TV, as well as through Social Media.

The BBC wrote about our new school:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd196gv2znzo

Asher Craig wrote all about the day on the Mayor of Bristol blog page:

https://thebristolmayor.com/2024/03/01/good-news-for-families-and-education-in-bristol/

The Mayor wrote on X:

https://twitter.com/marvinjrees/status/1763612678155653295?s=48&t=dynCtMpK5rlMUD3va_5BcA

Grand Opening

September 2023

We are in!

Elmfield Primary was very proud to open the doors to our new building in September. It was a frantic race to the finish but we couldn't be happier with the result. It really is a spectacular building - perfectly suited to meet the acoustic needs of our pupils and provide a safe and warm learning environment.

The children are thriving in their new classrooms and enjoying the specialist spaces we now have. We are developing links with our partner school, Upper Horfield Community School and are excited to see what opportunities lie ahead.

Contact the school for a visit and see it for yourselves. Be prepared to be amazed!

January 2023

With the New Year comes time for a quick update about the new build for Primary.

The children visited before Christmas and a had a great time looking at the building site. There are photos of the visit in the YouTube clip above.

In School Council the children are thinking about their ideas for the playground area, as well as considering all the different types of classrooms and learning spaces they will need.

We are all very excited for the move in September 2023 and will share progress with you all over the next few months.

March 2022

At last, we are delighted to be able to share the news that our primary relocation plans are approved, contracts signed and building work started. This is the first stage in achieving our vision for our new school and the exciting future for deaf children in Bristol and the region.

We are pleased to have reached this milestone, with the pandemic limitations and related shortages of skilled labour and materials having pushed our schedule considerably off target.

It is hoped that we will soon invite all stakeholders to a face to face launch event where you can look at the final plans and talk to school staff and the design team.

Meet the Project Design Team

The project design team are working hard on translating the ideas and the requirements for our new school into a bespoke building, specially designed around the needs of deaf children. This project will secure the future of Elmfield School and give us the ability to continue expanding the opportunities for deaf children in our region.

The architects are Caroline Mayes and Kirsty Street from Stride Treglown. They have extensive experience on projects like this, and worked on Exeter Academy School for Deaf Children.

We have worked hard to put together an expert team to guide the process, and we hope you agree that the project is in safe hands!