Consultation Document (Draft Outline)

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Mr R DaviesMr K Smith

Head TeacherChair of Governors

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St Stephen’s Primary School, Church Lane, Fradley, Lichfield, Staffordshire, WS13 8NL

STATUTORY CONSULTATION DOCUMENT

PURPOSE OF thE Consultation

1. Staffordshire County Council is responsible for ensuring that there are sufficient school places in the county. They have been in discussion with schools across Lichfield district for several yearsas part of the wider strategy to increase primary school capacity locally for proposed new housing.

2. The Governing Board of St Stephen’s wants to hear the views of local families, local community, school staff, governors and parents and other bodies on the proposal to:

• Enlarge St Stephen’s Primary School and provide accommodation for an additional 15 pupils in each year group. The school will become a two-form entry school (60 pupils in each year group) offering up to a total of 420 places.
• The school will be ready to accept this number of pupils from September 2018*

*The NOR (number on roll) will grow according to the speed at which housing is built in the village and additional children are generated.

3. It is important that you make your views known by 12pm on Monday 6th March

WHY ARE MORE SCHOOL PLACES NEEDED?

1.The County Council is committed to providing the best possible start for young people, which means ensuring that every child who needs a school place in their area has one available.

2.The long term strategy is to increase school capacity at St Stephen’s to mitigate the impact of two developments very close to the school. Planning permission has been granted for housing to be built at both Hay End Lane (250 dwellings) and Brookfield, Hay End Lane (69 dwellings).These developments are jointly expected to generate in the region of 14 additional children per year group. Furthermore, we will be accommodating children from the Fradley Park housing development particularly in the short term whilst a new school is being built on that site.

3.St Stephen’s currently has 291 pupils on roll and very few available spaces. Only three out of seven year groups have minimal capacity to accommodate more children at present.

4.Additional places at St Stephen’s will help to accommodate children generated from new housing within the village which will prevent them from having to access primary school places further afield.

St Stephen’s Primary School

5.St Stephen’s Primary School is a popular village primary school in Fradley, Lichfield. It was inspected by OFSTED in March 2013 and assessed as a “good” school.

6.The Published Admission Number (or PAN) is the number of Reception places offered to children starting their full-time education. The PAN of the school has been 45 for several years.

7.The governing board of St Stephen’s Primary School previously voted, in 2014, to increase its Published Admission Number to 60 in response to new housing being built in the village. The school cannot accommodate additional pupils beyond its PAN of 45 without additional accommodation.

8.Staffordshire County Council is fully supportive of the proposal as it would provide more places for local children and result in improvements to the school environment. Additional classrooms and outdoor play space will be provided. The additional number of pupils will also generate additional funding to enable the appointment of more teachers and teaching assistants

HOW WOULD THE SCHOOL BE IMPROVED?

9.A scheme has been agreed between the County Council and the school to include:

• Three additional general teaching bases
• Replacement of mobile classrooms with 2 permanent general teaching bases.
• an extended hall/studio;
• additional pupil toilets;
• the creation of small group rooms, sick bay, reprographics room etc.;
• the re-modelling of existing accommodation to provide staff, administration and school management facilities;
• external facilities to reflect the increase in the school population;
• enhanced storage (PE equipment, chairs/tables, learning resources etc.)
• improved and enlarged external playground and field.

10.The number of children in school has grown by over 100 in the last six years. The proposed expansion will help to alleviate any existing issues with current accommodation and outdoor space.

11.The school expansion will be funded by developer contributions from new housing and Staffordshire County Council who will seek planning permission for the building project.

12.A new playing field adjacent to the school site is being provided as part of the Hay End Lane Development.

13.The work will start on the school later this year and should take around 50 weeks to complete. The County Council, school, and contractors would work together to minimise any disruption, such as completing some works during the school holidays.

HOW WILL THE SCHOOL GROW?

14.The number of pupils projected for St Stephen’s in forthcoming years can be seen in the table below.

Projected Numbers for St Stephen’s Primary School

The speed at which St Stephen’s grows to become a two form entry school will be determined by the speed at which housing is delivered and additional pupils are generated. Additional pupils expected to be generated from new housing have been added into the table in accordance with the latest information provided on house building rates.

HOW WILL THE GROWTH OF THE SCHOOL AFFECT THE CHILDREN CURRENTLY ON ROLL?

15.Pupils already in attendance at the school will remain at the school until they move to secondary school. The growth in numbers and the requirement for additional classes is expected to be gradual.

16.The necessity for mixed-age classes will be phased out with the aim of all children eventually being taught in single year group classes.

17.The organisation of the curriculum and assessment processes will be easier to plan and manage.

18.Although details remain to be finalised, children should benefit from much improved learning facilities and a hall/studio more appropriately suited to the delivery of the PE curriculum, assemblies and dining.

19.There will be new playing fields for sports, learning and recreation as well as a much larger tarmac playground once the additional land is transferred from the Developer.

HOW DO I MAKE MY VIEWS KNOWN TO THE GOVERNING BODY?

1. Please send the school your views by 12pm on Monday 6th March 2017.

• Email your views to
• Write to Buildings and Finance Committee, Stephen’s Primary School, Church Lane, Fradley WS13 8NL
• Attend the public consultation meeting at St Stephen’s School.

1. The public consultation meeting on this proposal will be held at St Stephen’s Primary School on Thursday 16th February at 6pm.

1. All the views received will be presented in a report for consideration by the Governing Body.