Over the summer holidays, the school spent about £10,000 on building adaptations, such as handrails and accessible bathrooms, for incoming students, making a “big dent” in its budget.
But the school lift remains broken and would cost about £250,000 to fix, which there is “absolutely no way” the school can afford.
And this means one wheelchair-using pupil has to go outside and through car parks to reach some classrooms.
“On wet December mornings, it’s just not good enough,” Mr Horsfield says.
But he still believes most children with Send should be in mainstream schools and sees them “flourishing” when they have the right support.
“We should be supported to do that at a level that we want to do that at,” Mr Horsfield says.
“We are being constrained at the moment, due to the lack of funding and lack of resources.”
Over the past few years, the number of learning support assistants at the school has nearly halved and fewer pupils are able to access specialist counselling from outside services.
But the school still provides specialist workshops for those needing extra support, both for academic lessons and social, emotional and mental health.
