Plans have been put forward to expand a secondary school, with a new special educational needs centre to meet increasing demand for places.

If approved, the new SEN unit at Victory Academy in Chatham would have space for 25 pupils, while a proposed new sixth form block would have capacity for 214 pupils.

A planning statement from consultants Bailey Partnership said: “Medway Council is looking to build an SEN unit and a 6th form centre at the academy to deliver the schools expansion scheme.

“A continuing trend for increased placement requests for special educational needs (SEN) students at Medway Council has resulted in the need to create additional resourced units in existing mainstream schools to accommodate the increasing demand for student placement in the area.”

The SEN unit would be two storeys, matching the height of the existing school building, and contain four classrooms, an outdoor play area and social area.

It would also include three ‘group rooms’, a quiet room, therapy room and hygiene room, as well as several support spaces such as pupils’ toilets, staff room, meeting room, admin and head office.

The sixth form centre would be a single-storey building, with an outdoor social and dining area.

The building would house a central support area, featuring an office, staff room and toilets, and two wings, one with a large study room and another with a social and dining area, servery, store and plant room.

People can have their say on the plans here.

The academy was unable to provide information on the planned cost of the expansion, or whether the new centres would be for extra or existing pupils.

A statement issued on behalf of the school said: “We are always looking at how we can help and support more young people in our community. As such, we are in early conversations with Medway Council to explore the possibility of providing a Special Educational Needs and Disability resource provision on-site, alongside the local authority, to support students with additional needs from across the region.

“These discussions are in their infancy and no decisions have been made. We will communicate with our community if any agreement is made.”