School Capacity in the Surrounding Area

P19-0905/N001v5

Date: December 2020

Re: Riverside Park, Bromborough

Introduction

This note looks at the existing schools and school capacity within three miles of the Application Site. The Proposed Development would deliver 283 dwellings on the land at Riverside Park in Bromborough, Wirral. It assesses whether this capacity will be sufficient to accommodate the expected increase in school-aged children estimated to live in the proposed dwellings once they are fully built and occupied.

Local Education Authorities (LEA) have a statutory duty to secure sufficient school places within their area. The school that any particular child attends is a matter of parental choice subject to availability of capacity at the selected school. It is always subject to the overriding requirements of any published admission criteria that the school has, as well as the appeals procedure for individual pupils.

Existing Schools

There are 18 primary schools in reasonable proximity to the Application Site. In total, the 18 primary schools have spare capacity of 592 places. Table 1 presents the capacity of the primary schools within three miles of the site in further detail.

Table 1: Capacity of Primary Schools within three miles of the application site Number Distance from School of School Application Capacity capacity pupils Site on roll Christ The King Catholic Primary School 0.53 miles 420 397 23 Mendell Primary School 0.6 miles 210 169 41 Co-op Academy Woodslee 0.81 miles 322 228 94 Raeburn Primary School 1 miles 420 416 0 Heygarth Primary School 1.18 miles 403 333 70 Brookhurst Primary School 1.32 miles 242 213 29 Poulton Lancelyn Primary School 1.57 miles 420 417 3 Millfields Church of England (Controlled) 1.66 miles 210 135 75 Primary School Stanton Road Primary School 1.95 miles 315 301 14 Church Drive Primary School 2.05 miles 315 306 9 Brackenwood Infant School 2.45 miles 208 174 34 St Andrew's CofE Aided Primary School 2.47 miles 210 212 0 Brackenwood Junior School 2.5 miles 240 243 0 Grove Street Primary School 2.53 miles 420 285 135 St John's Catholic Infant School 2.67 miles 180 182 0 St John's Catholic Junior School 2.71 miles 239 247 0

Number Distance from School of School Application Capacity capacity pupils Site on roll Town Lane Infant School 2.89 miles 293 269 24 Higher Bebington Junior School 3.0 miles 388 347 41 Capacity - - - 592 Source: Wirral Council Pupil Yield Calculations (20/10/2020)

There are five secondary schools in reasonable proximity to the Application Site. In total, data from the Department for Education show that the five secondary schools have spare capacity of 795 places. Table 2 presents the capacity of these secondary schools in more detail. It should be noted that all five secondary schools listed have sixth form provision for pupils up to the age of 18. Admission to the Grammar Schools is based on student performance in the 11+ exam. Information from Wirral Council indicates that the two grammar schools and St John Plessington Catholic College draw students from a far wider area than their geographical location, therefore they do not purely serve the Bebington/Bromborough community.

Table 2: Capacity of Secondary Schools within three miles of the application site

Distance from Number School School Application of pupils Capacity capacity Site on roll South Wirral High School 1.51 miles 1,297 872 425 Wirral Grammar School for Boys 2.29 miles 1,180 1,058 122 Wirral Grammar School for Girls 2.35 miles 1,208 1,184 24 Co-op Academy Bebington 2.54 miles 1,241 1,110 131 St John Plessington Catholic College 2.59 miles 1,679 1,586 93 Capacity - - - 795 Source: Wirral Council Pupil Yield Calculations (20/10/2020)

School-aged children living in the proposed dwellings

The Proposed Development consists of 283 dwellings, with an estimated population of 6511. In Wirral, ONS population estimates show that 8.5% of the population are of primary school age (42-11) and 7.5% of the population are of secondary school and college age (11-183). Assuming the Proposed Development has a similar proportion of children of primary and secondary school age, it would be expected to generate a need for an additional 55 primary places and 49 secondary places, if all the children were new to the area. In reality, the number of additional school places required is likely to be lower than this. One of the reasons for this is because even though some children will arrive as

1 Based on the average household size of 2.3 in Wirral (Census, 2011). 2 The population of 4-year olds has been split in half, as not all 4-year olds will attend primary school. 3 The population of 11-year-olds has been split in half between the primary school aged population and the secondary school aged population. The population of 18-year-olds has also been halved to reflect the proportion of the age group that have already left school.

migrants to the area, others will simply be part of families moving to the Site from other existing residential areas within Wirral and will already have a place at a school in the area.

There is an existing surplus capacity in nearby primary schools in close proximity (3 miles) to the site. As presented in Table 1, for primary schools there is a capacity of 592 spaces. This capacity is more than enough to accommodate the estimated primary school aged population estimated to live at the Proposed Development (55). Also, as previously stated, a number of families will move from within Wirral and their children will already have places at the local schools.

There is also a surplus of secondary school places of 795, as presented in Table 2. Even with a number of the secondary schools drawing pupils from a far wider geographical area, these places would be sufficient to accommodate the additional children of secondary school age estimated to live at the Proposed Development (49). Again, a number of the families living in the Proposed Development will already live within Wirral – meaning their children will already have places at the local secondary schools.

The above analysis presents estimates based on children of school age being able to live in all 283 of the proposed dwellings. However, 146 of the proposed dwellings will be apartments, 50% of which will be one bed and 50% two bed. It is unlikely that school aged children will live in these apartments, particularly the 73 one bed apartments. This indicates that the number of school aged children estimated to live in the proposed dwellings (55 primary school students and 49 secondary school students) will be lower, further highlighting that there is ample capacity in existing schools.

Surplus Capacity

Using the method set out above and accounting for the 592 primary and 795 secondary school places, it is estimated that just over 3,000 residential units could be built before primary schools reach capacity in the 3-mile radius around the Application Site. More specifically, it is estimated that 3,035 dwellings would accommodate 592 primary school students and 523 secondary school students.