STEPPING Stones special school is planning to open the doors of Undershaw to its pupils in time for the new academic year, in September.

Restoration and building work at the former home of Sherlock Holmes creator Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, at Hindhead, is due to be completed in June and the grounds completed over the summer before term starts.

The school, currently housed in a former church in Tower Road, Hindhead, plans to retain its current premises and use nearby Undershaw, on Portsmouth Road, for an upper school and new post-16 education.

A school spokesman said: “The transition to Undershaw will then be seen, as in any other school, as a rite of passage to their next level of education. In addition, we will be looking to start a family support service which would most appropriately be based at Tower Road.”

The lower school pupils will also use Undershaw’s new facilities for music, science, sport and swimming.

Haslemere Museum is planning to mount an exhibition about the school and the conversion of Undershaw from June 2-25. It will feature work by the children, the history of both sites, and plans for Conan Doyle’s home.