Schools' Local Growth and Investment Plan
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Schools’ Local Growth and Investment Plan The Schools’ Local Growth and Investment Plan (SLGIP) provides a snapshot of NCC plans to secure sufficient school places. Fundamentally, it addresses two issues; 1) demographic change, prompted by changes such as birth rates and life expectancy and 2) population movement, resulting from new housing development or migration to and from particular geographic areas. Our aim is always to provide school places locally, whilst ensuring schools are of sufficient size (ideally 420 pupils for primary and 900 students for secondary). Norfolk’s education landscape has developed over time and is characterised by large numbers of small schools in rural areas. Our plan also seeks to address our core duty of promoting high standards of education. To achieve this, we will use a combination of approaches to either grow or decrease the number of school places for any given local area. These will include: 1. Commissioning new schools 2. Promoting DfE Free School proposals 3. Expand the age range and size of existing schools either on their current or a new school site 4. Agree changes to the planned admission number (PAN) with associated change to accommodation 5. As a last resort close schools The 2019 SLGIP is structured in 4 parts: Part 1 - Major growth areas which will require multi-school solutions (page 2) Part 2 - Development locations where one new school is planned (page 11) Part 3 - Growth areas with implications for existing schools (page 21) Part 4 - Areas of the County indicating a decline in pupil numbers and where there are several small schools (page 23) Part 1 - Major growth areas which will require multi-school solutions THETFORD (Breckland District) Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) of 5000 new dwellings Plan of the urban extension showing the location of the first new primary school site. CURRENT LOCAL PROVISION – capacity and organisation Primary School places within Thetford are provided by 8 schools, a mix of infant, junior and all-through primary; 6 of these are academies; 5 run by Eastern MAT and one by DNEAT plus two community schools. A total of 360 places are available in each year group across the primary phase. In September 2019 there were around 70 spare places in Reception year across the Town which is a drop since the previous year. Pupil forecasts indicate that for 2020 admissions the catchment cohort in Thetford may rise by one form of entry which can be managed within existing schools. LATEST ASSESSMENT OF GROWTH Children’s Services have been working in partnership for many years with the land promoters ‘Pigeon’ on this strategic urban extension to Thetford and we have secured sites free of charge for 3 new primary phase schools each of 420 places. The first phase of this large-scale development obtained planning permission early in 2018 and commenced on site in 2019. This phase of development is for 344 homes of which 92 2 have commenced and 6 completed. This phase includes the site for the first new primary school. The design of the new school has begun along with discussions with Pigeon on access and road infrastructure. CURRENT PRESSURES ON PUPIL NUMBERS Pupil forecasts indicate that the current provision of places is sufficient until the new housing commences. There is some spare capacity, which will be useful once the housing commences and until the first new school is built. IMPACT OF HOUSING GROWTH The challenge for Children’s Services when planning to open a new school is timing. Although it is good to see a new school available within the heart of a new community which grows with the development, there does need to be sufficient numbers of children that will need a school place to ensure the school is viable and also to ensure it does not impact negatively on surrounding schools. SHORT TERM RESPONSE Pigeon is keen for the first school site to be transferred to NCC shortly. NCC will consider a date for transfer that will not incur costs for maintenance and security. MEDIUM/LONGER TERM RESPONSE Longer term, the three new 420 place primary schools for Thetford will meet the need in the current Local Plan to 2026 and beyond. Timescales for these schools depend entirely on the progress rate of the new housing in Thetford. Secondary school places will be monitored at Thetford Academy as additional land has already been provided at the school to allow for future expansion. S106 contributions have been secured although not yet collected as a result of the future housing allocation. Capital response THETFORD School Scheme Stage Cost/estimate Date if known Future New Primary 2FE Design stage IRO £8m 2022 or programmes School 1 which could be 2023 progressed quickly if places required. New Primary 2FE - £8m School 2 New Primary 2FE - £8m School 3 Secondary tbc - tbc extension 3 NORTH NORWICH GROWTH TRIANGLE (Broadland District) Sprowston/Old Catton/Rackheath 12,000+ new dwellings The new White House Farm Primary School in Sprowston CURRENT LOCAL PROVISION – capacity and organisation This proposed housing growth area extends from Old Catton in the west to Rackheath in the east and extends both sides of the Broadland Northway. Existing school provision is extensive and comprises of three secondary schools: Sprowston Community Academy, Thorpe St Andrew School, Broadland High Ormiston Academy and their feeder primary phase schools. Existing primary phase provision remains a mix of infant/junior in Old Catton and Sprowston and all through primary in Rackheath and Thorpe. There is a mix of Trusts, Federations and Community Schools. A new Primary School opened at White House Farm in September 2019 and will grow year by year up to 420 places to accommodate children from the housing within the area it is situated. The surrounding area of Sprowston has had pressure for reception places for a few years now but for 2019 there has been a slight decline in pupil numbers although it is expected that numbers will rise again. This has been a challenge for some schools with a new school opening at the same time. LATEST ASSESSMENT OF GROWTH The Beeston Park outline planning for 3,500 homes is being promoted by TOWN on behalf of U+I plc. The site continues to progress and NCC have been regularly updated. As with most large scale, complicated developments progress has been slow. Phase 1 of the scheme (733 homes) is however progressing relatively well: a detailed scheme for the 1st 4 phase link road is under consideration and negotiations with house builders are understood to be ongoing. Subject to the grant of consent for the link road, and negotiations with house builders being successfully concluded, development could start on site in the next 1-3 years. Timely progress of phases 2 and 3 of the scheme are linked to the outcome of Norfolk’s Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) bid. At the time of writing the HIF bid has not been determined. To the west of the growth triangle, housing schemes are beginning to take shape. Orbit homes (225 dwellings) are planning to commence shortly with first completions in 2020 and land at the Norwich Rugby Club has a developer interested. A development of 340 homes in Old Catton by Taylor Wimpey has commenced and expect first occupations in 2020. The large allocation in Rackheath for 3,000 dwellings, although the final scheme may be closer to 4,000, is moving slowly and may not commence for a few years yet. Again, timely progress is likely to be linked to the outcome of Norfolk’s Housing Infrastructure Fund bid. However, several smaller developments to the south west of Rackheath potentially totalling around 800 dwellings are taking shape and will impact on local school provision. The large development planned south of Salhouse Road for circa. 1,200 dwellings continue to progress well. Two developers have now secured detailed planning permission for 600+ homes and these have either commenced or will soon do so. Negotiations are ongoing with a further development partner in respect of the remainder of the scheme. Development continues to progress well at the White House Farm and Home Farm sites in Sprowston. The White House Farm development consortium (Persimmon Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Hopkin Homes) have recently submitted an outline application for a further 516 homes for the next phase of this development. CURRENT PRESSURES ON PUPIL NUMBERS Pressure for places at reception in the Old Catton/Sprowston area peaked in 2016 and we have seen a slight decline in numbers for the 2019 admission round. This has been a challenge for some schools along with the opening of White House Farm Primary as there are now several spare places across the area. The decision to open White House Farm Primary at this time was carefully considered so the new school can grow with the community it sits in. Housing in a large scale continues across this area as mentioned above so spare places in local schools are needed and will be taken up over the next few years. The large allocation in Rackheath is planned to deliver 2 new primary phase schools but smaller growth coming forward first over several schemes will put pressure on Rackheath Primary which is already full, with no capacity for expansion. It is anticipated children generated from the Rackheath early housing will secure a school place in the Sprowston area. IMPACT OF HOUSING GROWTH Housing in a large scale continues across this area as mentioned above so spare places in local schools are needed and will be taken up over the next few years. The large allocation in Rackheath is planned to deliver 2 new primary phase schools but smaller growth coming forward first over several schemes will put pressure on Rackheath Primary which is already full, with no capacity for expansion.