Sponsor sought for Newbury primary school

The local authority is now seeking a sponsor for the new school which will have space for 210 pupils and 26 nursery children and will be built in part with a pre-allocated budget of £7.7m.
The project follows plans to build a separate primary school as part of the Sandleford development which will bring 2,000 new homes to the area, and a possible third school that could also be built as part of Phase 2 of the housing development.
Irene Neill (CON, Aldermaston), executive member for education, said: “The school on the Newbury College site is being built to deal with demographic growth in Newbury.
“This is the fundamental reason for the proposal and is a separate pressure to any future pressure from new housing.
“We are aware that the Sandleford development will produce pupils, but the final plans and number of pupils has yet to be agreed.
“The council will discuss education requirements with the Sandleford developer as their plans firm up during the planning application process.”
The proposals for the school which will be an academy or a free school have seen the council granted the legal authority to enter into an ‘expressions of interest’ process to identify a sponsor for the new build which began Wednesday and will end on November 15.
The need for primary school places in West Berkshire has grown over the last five years from 12,238 in 2009 to 13,115 by 2014. Figures for reception year intake have also grown from 1,747 pupils to 1,932 across the same period.
Other schools across the area are expanding to accommodate the 3,500 new homes at Newbury Racecourse and Sandleford, including Park House School in Newbury, The Willows Primary School in Greenham and Spurcroft School in Thatcham.
Irene Neill said: “We have a duty to ensure there are sufficient school places in the district.
“This is an opportunity for a suitable sponsor to create an academy or free school.
“Any design would need to be future proofed so that, should additional primary school places be needed, the school can be expanded to up to six hundred and thirty places and the nursery to accommodate up to fifty two nursery children.”
Initially, the new school will admit up to 26 children into nursery, 30 in reception, 15 into Year 1 and 15 into Year 2, before building up to full capacity.
The new development will be up for public consultation in summer 2015 and is not expected to open until the new school year in September 2016.