The Labour Group’s Shadow Lead for Children’s Services, Councillor Carol Shelley, has urged residents to respond to the Council’s consultation on the future of Swindon’s strategy towards meeting future school places demand. Swindon Council as a local authority has a statutory duty to ensure that sufficient school places are available within the Borough. This document has been written using information from the 2015 Swindon Borough Local Plan. The strategy includes present and predicted future pupil numbers on roll, together with information about birth rates, school capacity and new housing.
Swindon Borough Council is inviting representations on the update during the statutory consultation period which will runs until 15 April 2016.
More information on this consultation can be found at: http://www.swindon.gov.uk/info/20019/consultations_and_surveys/628/swindon_school_place_planning_study
Representations should be sent in to educationplaces@swindon.gov.uk
Below is a table of where Swindon Council has identified a need for new school places:
|
Primary and Secondary School Place Needs from new housing development Location |
Housing Nos |
School Place Needs Forms of Entry (FE) |
Estimated No. of Pupils |
|
Tadpole Farm (N) |
1695 |
1.86 |
670 |
|
Wichelstowe (S&C) |
4064 |
4.47 |
1609 |
|
Swindon Urban (S&C) |
4511 |
4.97 |
1789 |
|
Kingsdown (E) |
1650 |
1.81 |
652 |
|
Commonhead (E) |
890 |
0.98 |
353 |
|
East of Swindon (E) |
8000 |
8.8 |
3168 |
|
South Marston Brownfield (E) |
140 |
0.15 |
54 |
|
Swindon Rural Area |
450 |
0.49 |
176 |
|
Total Swindon Borough |
21400 |
24 (23.53) |
8471 |
Swindon Council have identified five new Free Schools bids as helping meet future school places demand, as well as the two Free Schools for secondary age pupils that have already been approved.
The Labour Group’s Shadow Lead for Children’s Services, Councillor Carol Shelley, said:
“It is crucial that moving forward Swindon Council ensures there is sufficient school places to meet local need, so we support the evidence base behind this strategy. While the government has stipulated that all new schools that meet this future demand have to be Free Schools, these schools would be given land that has a value, so the Council has a duty to seek to influence where Free Schools should be located and whether they’re necessary. That is why I think it’s important local people provide input in to this strategy.
In my opinion it is utterly ridiculous that the government has stipulated that all new government funded schools have to be free schools, which means education providers have to jump through a lot of bureaucratic hoops rather than a focus on the quality of education for their pupils.”