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likelihood of another ‘baby boom’ might be having some impact on the education system, place planners now seem to be taking a closer look at how schools can areas, at the right place and right time. Enough school places vs the right school places In December, a £3bn investment was announced by the government to support the creation of 50,000 SEND places nationwide, which builds on the £740m already invested. The money has been earmarked for adaptations in mainstream schools to create specialist classrooms and breakout spaces. In local authority areas where a
concentrated effort has already taken place to achieve this, analysis has shown improved outcomes for young people who have been educated with their peers in their communities. New guidance, announced at the
same time as the funding, means over the coming years local authorities can use their capital funding for children with SEND to create places in local, mainstream schools – putting an a place that meets families’ needs. From a design perspective, there are a number of solutions and tools available, such as taking advantage of modular construction or converting otherwise empty classrooms, which makes this a This shift towards more collaborative
working is intended to prevent schools acting in isolation without considering their local community’s needs. And as improvements to existing schools focus on cultivating more inclusive environments, similar considerations in the designing of new schools are also expected to take priority as part of the wider reform of the SEND system, now due to be announced this year. New housing to spearhead growth Hand in hand with a commitment to step up the School Rebuilding Programme, prioritising schools according to their condition, came a promise to build 1.5 million homes in the 2025 Spending Review. A total of £39bn was allocated to the Affordable Homes Programme, which has a 1.5 million new homes to support housebuilding was also announced.
Does the creation of new housing automatically initiate the building of new schools? This is a challenge – the pupil yield from new housing developments does not always support an immediate need for a school, and this must also be balanced with existing available capacity in the area. Under section 14 of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory schools for primary and secondary education in their areas. Local authorities are expected to surplus capacity (for example, increasing the provision of early education and childcare) to avoid detriment to schools’ Building expansion and increases in capacity can be proposed. But there is a ‘tipping point’. Councils
will use local data to consider the impact of new homes on local schools, but as a guide, the Department for Education’s national average pupil yields work calculates that 100 new homes typically include 25 primary school pupils and 13 secondary school pupils. On a new development of 500 homes this increases to 125 primary and 65 secondary students and for 1,000 new homes, the pupil yield comes in at 250 primary age pupils and 130 secondary school pupils. The Education Policy Institute has
warned that because the birthrate is falling, up to 800 primary schools could fall empty or close by the end Bedfordshire is currently experiencing a growth in population and a range of new housing developments are underway to provide a variety of homes to accommodate changes in lifestyle and future need. The phasing and timing of housing developments is seen as crucial to its school place planning alongside changes for SEND provision and the impact of options such as merging from three-tier to two-tier education systems. Project viability is also a key
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consideration and developers can contribute to funding school infrastructure. An example is seen in Wixams, a new town developed on a of four village sites started in 2007
2009. A second primary school opened in 2017 as well as Wixams Academy. The academy was originally built to accommodate 640 pupils but due to growing demand, the new school has already been expanded to 1,800 capacity with six forms of entry. Schools as community assets solution to predicting pupil rolls in relation to birth rates. But with local authorities responsible for school organisation planning, the emphasis seems to be on ‘local’ in terms of policy too. The demographic picture not only has a potential impact on education outcomes for students, but also on wider prosperity families to send their children to local schools. Bedfordshire, and places such as
Cambridgeshire and Leicestershire, are experiencing increases in demand at the moment, but nobody wants the school provision further down the line should the situation change. And with school funding linked to pupil numbers, repurposing vacant or underused space will become a crucial element of maintaining viability – an option planning for. After all, once a primary school has closed it would cost millions to rebuild. This Government’s Plan for Change
is said to be aimed at breaking down barriers to opportunity, with every family having access to a good local school for their child. That is a brilliant starting place but we need the money coming through for more places. Once we have the funding, the question we should be asking now is not one of capacity but of how school assets deliver value through quality learning environments - now and into the future.
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