A SPECIAL school is appealing for help to finance a state-of-the-art classroom after being hit by Government funding cuts.

Bardwell School, in Hendon Place, Bicester, needs to raise £30,000 for the classroom, which will feature specialist equipment such as speech aids.

It was expecting to get £100,000 towards the £120,000 building costs – but has been given just £20,000.

So far the school, which has 62 children with severe learning difficulties, has raised a total of £90,000, including the £20,000 grant and £10,000 it has put in itself.

The Special Schools Trust and the Rachel Charitable Trust gave a total of £30,000 and Bicester firm Brita Water has pledged to raise £30,000 after making the school its charity of the year.

Headteacher Chris Hughes said: “We were expecting the funding would get cut a bit, but to go from £100,000 to £20,000 was such a blow. It was a massive cut.

“But the children are still there and need the work we are doing.

“We are determined to go ahead with this.

“We have put some programmes back to fund it and I want something to show from all this work.

“Communications is such a key area in what we do and always will be.”

The facility will be open to the wider community, including children with communication problems who attend mainstream schools.

She said: “We are not just looking inwards at pupils here, but beyond.

“It’s about giving a positive voice, showing what children can do and how we can enable that.”

It hopes to start work in summer next year for a September 2012 opening.

Oxfordshire County Council spokesman Paul Smith said: “All councils in the UK have received less capital money for schools from central Government.

“This is reflected in the fact that Bardwell School received less money overall.”

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: “This cash has not been cut by central government. All £450m nationally is now given to local authorities as part of their overall education funding. The buck ultimately stops with councils – it is right that they have the maximum freedom to invest in schools as they see fit.”

If you would like to help Bardwell School raise the remainder of the cash, please call 01869 242182.