North Hampshire school set for expansion

According to Hampshire County councillor Marilyn Tucker (Con, Tadley and Baughurst), Hampshire County Council recently earmarked £250m for a school capital and building programme from April.
Mrs Tucker, who is the county council’s assistant lead member for children’s services, said that an allocation for the increase in size of Burnham Copse Primary School, Tadley, from a total 210 to 315 places, was included in the funding.
The county council is to consult with the school, governors, and parents, to permanently increase the school’s pupil admission number from 30 pupils to 45 pupils a year.
Mrs Tucker said that it was good news for Tadley and the school, and that Tadley was fortunate to have a number of first class schools.
“Tadley Primary is rated by Ofsted as ‘outstanding’ and the last Ofsted inspection graded Burnham Copse as ‘good’ ,” said Mrs Tucker, adding that last year 80 per cent of pupils at Burnham Copse attained Key Stage 2 Level 4, or above, in both English and mathematics.
“Tadley has new houses being built at the moment, so it is clear that schools have to grow as well.
“Undoubtedly, if the birth rate continues to rise, we will have to make provision for further future expansion, but this is a good first step.”
Across the Borough of Basingstoke and Deane, there has been an increase of 28 per cent in the birth rate since 2002.
In 2002 there were 1,855 live births in the borough and by 2011 this had risen to 2,367.
In January 2012, there were 1,397 primary school places in the Tadley area, with 1,372 children on the roll, indicating a slight surplus capacity.