The Wellingborough Schools Area comprises the town of Wellingborough as well as the rural area served by Wollaston Secondary School and the town secondary schools. The schools area is not quite the same as the Borough Council of Wellingborough. In particular, the town of Finedon is regarded, for schools purposes, as being in East Northamptonshire, as it is linked to Huxlow School in Irthlingborough.
Current position There are four secondary schools in the area. Three are located in Wellingborough, whilst Wollaston School serves an area to the south and west of the town. The combined capacity of the secondary schools is 944 places per year group.
There are 18 primary schools in the town and 15 in the rural area. There is a high concentration of Infant and Junior Schools in Wellingborough. The recent amalgamation of the Victoria Schools leaves six pairs. Hardwick Infant and Junior School are proposed to be amalgamated from April 2011. Earls Barton also has an Infant and Junior School. The combined capacity of the primary schools is 970 pupils per year group.
There are two special schools in the Wellingborough area – a primary special school for pupils with severe learning difficulties and autism and a secondary school for pupils with significant, severe learning difficulties including Autism. These two schools admit pupils from the areas of Wellingborough and East Northants.
For pupils who require other specialist placement, there are resourced provisions at Croyland Nursery, Croyland Primary and Park Junior School. The combined capacity of special school provision is 220 (90 primary and 110 secondary). The combined capacity of other specialist provision is 46 primary places.
For pupils who require special school provision involving complex medical needs places are agreed in Kettering. For pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD) who require special school provision, places are available at Kettering or Corby. From September 2011 all pupils will travel to Corby for such provision once the new Maplefields School opens.
Enrolment rates Historically almost all of the four year olds are enrolled in the maintained primary schools.
There is a loss of around 9% at secondary transfer. This is principally a result of pupils obtaining places at church and single-sex schools in Kettering and Northampton. The three schools in the town of Wellingborough are all co- educational foundation schools.
Pupil numbers Pupil numbers in primary schools in the Wellingborough area fell from 6,630 to 6,207 between January 2003 and January 2010 (around 900 per year group).
Numbers in the secondary schools reached a peak of 5,055 in January 2005 but have fallen back to 4,782 in January 2010 (825 per year group). The annual number of births has been increasing gradually from a low point of 796 in 2000/01 to average around 1,000 in the last two years.
There has been a significant growth in the number of pupils requiring places in the two special schools in the town and they are now operating at capacity.
Planned growth The North Northamptonshire Core Spatial Strategy proposes a target of some 12,800 dwellings to be completed between 2001 and 2021. Between 2001 and mid-2009, a total of some 2,700 dwellings had been completed. The table below indicates the principal sites under consideration for major housing developments,
Table 1: Large Sites (500 or more dwellings)
Sites No. of Units Comments Stanton Cross 3000 Granted planning permission but (Weast) no sign of development starting Upper Redhill 3000 Granted planning permission Park Farm Way 700 East of Stanton Cross 1350
NB It is expected that other large sites, along with smaller sites in the urban area and villages will come forward to contribute towards the target.
The effect of growth The state of the housing market makes prediction difficult, but it is likely that the annual rate of housing completions in the borough may stay at the recent average of 300 completions a year before the bigger sites begin in 2012.
From 2013-14, annual completions are expected to increase to above 800 a year.
We would expect to see primary numbers increase from 2010-11 because of the impact of the increase in the recent rise on annual births. Secondary numbers are expected to remain around the range 4,700 to 4,800 for the next five years before beginning to increase in the second half of the decade. The peak impact on secondary numbers from new housing is not likely to be seen until well into the 2020s.
New primary provision Stanton Cross extension (known as Weast) – The proposed 3,000 dwellings will generate around four f.e.. Two sites for primary schools have been reserved and should be funded from developer contributions.
Upper Redhill – Similarly, this development of 3,000 homes will generate around four f.e.. Two sites for primary schools have been reserved on the master plan for the development. Funding should be exclusively from developer contributions. Consideration will be given within the development for further resourced or unit provision.
Park Farm Way – The proposed 700 dwellings will generate around 1 f.e.. Options include establishing a primary school on the development, enlarging local schools or relocating an enlarged neighbouring school onto the new development.
East of Stanton Cross – The proposed 1,350 dwellings will generate around 2 f.e.. A site for a primary school will therefore need to be reserved. Again, funding should be exclusively from developer contributions.
Other areas – Like other urban areas of the county, the annual number of births in Wellingborough town has increased over the last five years. The feasibility of extending Croyland Primary School, to allow it to admit 2 f.e. to help meet the expected increase in the primary population is under consideration.
New secondary provision Because of the recent fall in pupil numbers in the district, the projections indicate that it will be around 2020 before total pupil numbers exceed the current capacity. The roll is expected to continue to increase after that. A site for a new secondary school has been reserved on the Stanton Cross development. The timing of the establishment of this school will need to take into account the rate of housing completions in Wellingborough and the growth in the neighbouring towns of Kettering and Northampton. This will consider the development of further resourced or unit provision.
Consideration should be given to address the issues of capacity in the two special schools and the relocation of the BESD provision to Corby.