Issue - meetings

To approve the Business Case for the expansion of St Ann’s Heath Junior School from a two Form of Entry junior (240 places) to a three Form of Entry junior (360 places) creating 120 additional places in Virginia Water to help meet the basic need requirements in the Virginia Water area from September 2015.

N.B. An annex containing exempt information is contained in Part 2 of the agenda – item 22.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Council Overview Board and/or the Education and Skills Board]

RESOLVED:

That, subject to the agreement of the detailed financial information for the expansion as set out in agenda item 23 in Part 2 of the agenda, the business case for the provision of an additional Form of Entry (120 places) junior places in Virginia Water be approved.

Reasons for Recommendations:

The proposal supports the Authority’s statutory obligation to provide sufficient school places to meet the needs of the population in the Virginia Water area.

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Education and Skills Board]

This report set out the business case for the expansion of St Ann’s Heath Junior School from a two Form of Entry junior (240 places) to a three Form of Entry junior (360 places) creating 120 additional places in Virginia Water to help meet the basic need requirements in the Virginia Water area from September 2015.

The Cabinet Member for Schools, Skills and Educational Achievement explained that there had not been enough reception places in 2012 and now additional junior school places were required. She said that the school was inspected by Ofsted in July 2013 and required improvement but that they had received support and the latest monitoring shows that they are much improved and are likely to get a ‘good’ judgement going forward.

She informed Members that planning permission had been granted by the Planning and Regulatory Committee in April 2015.

The Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care, Independence and Wellbeing stated that as the local member he was very pleased that this was the third school to be upgraded in his division. He said that he was delighted to see that consideration had been given to parking in this project.

The Cabinet Associate for the Built Environment thanked the Council’s property team and highlighted the challenge of delivering 2 school expansions by September 2015. 

RESOLVED:

That, subject to the agreement of the detailed financial information for the expansion as set out in agenda item 23 in Part 2 of the agenda, the business case for the provision of an additional Form of Entry (120 places) junior places in Virginia Water be approved.

Reasons for Recommendations:

The proposal supports the Authority’s statutory obligation to provide sufficient school places to meet the needs of the population in the Virginia Water area.