Proposals to expand six primary schools in Keynsham, Bath, Peasedown St. John and Paulton
Following a consultation on proposals from Bath & North East Somerset Council to increase pupil places at six primary schools in response to rising demand, the Council's Cabinet meets on 13 February to consider responses from local communities on proposals to create additional pupil places at Bathampton Primary, Castle Primary, Paulton Infant, Paulton Junior, Peasedown St. John Primary and Weston All Saints C of E Primary schools.
The Council needs to provide additional school places to meet existing and projected demand from the local population in these areas in order to meet its statutory duty to provide sufficient school places.
Provision of additional places in these schools is intended to help local families to obtain a place for their children at their local school, which will help to make it viable for as many children as possible to be able to walk or cycle to school and keep communities together.
Councillor Dine Romero (Lib Dem, Southdown), Cabinet Member for Early Years, Children & Youth, said: "Bath & North East Somerset Council is committed to ensuring it provides sufficient school places in the right area to meet demand and increase parental choice. Our projections of future pupil numbers based on population growth and pupils coming from new housing developments and parental preference indicate a future shortfall of primary school places in these areas of the district and at these schools if action is not taken to add more places.
Dyson DC50i - Bagless upright vacuum cleaner - BALL Technology -...
View detailsThisi is Dyson's smallest upright vacuum cleaner with the performance of a full size upright machine. The DC50i has Dyson's most advanced cleaner head technology and 2 Tier RadialTM cyclones.
Terms: LIMITED STOCK OFFER. FREE delivery to most UK postcodes - Next working day dispatch.
Contact: 01664 491439
Valid until: Monday, May 27 2013
"The schools chosen represent the most appropriate options for expansion as they have good educational standards and are popular with parents. They are also located in the areas of projected future demand from new housing and/ or underlying population growth and the school sites are of a sufficient size to accommodate the expansion."
The consultation process
Bath & North East Somerset Council has already carried out a wide-ranging public consultation with more than 1,500 consultation documents issued to parents, staff, governors at each of the schools involved setting out the background to the proposals. Drop-in sessions were held at the four schools where the proposed expansion was larger and would involve significant building work. Consultation documents were also published on the Council's website and distributed to a number of stakeholders including ward councillors and town and parish councils.
Subject to Cabinet approval, statutory notices will be published about the proposals – giving a further four week representation period and allowing anyone interested a further opportunity to comment before a final decision is made. It is anticipated that details of this consultation and how to get involved are expected be publicised by early March.
More information on the proposals and the consultation so far can be found on the Council's website: http://democracy.bathnes.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CommitteeId=122&CF=&MeetingId=3644&Ver=4.
Investment in new school buildings
Subject to the proposed expansions being approved after the second round of public consultation, the capital budgets for building work required at Paulton Infant, Castle Primary and Weston All Saints C of E Primary were agreed by Cabinet in December 2012 as part of the 2012/13 capital programme.
Funding for a feasibility study to assess the capital costs of adding accommodation at Paulton Junior by 2016 has also been approved by Cabinet but further approval of the full capital budget will be required in the future. Any new school buildings will be subject to the usual planning process involving public consultation.
There are no capital implications for Bathampton Primary and Peasedown St. John Primary as no building work is required at these schools.
Revenue funding will be provided by the Government through the Dedicated Schools Grant on a per pupil basis. The increased pupils would create additional funding for schools' direct costs and also provide additional resources for support functions that support all schools.
For all the latest news from the Council subscribe to its Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/bathnes
Comments