New Primary School at Glenvale Park Wellingborough

Overview

North Northamptonshire Council proposes to establish a new mainstream primary school on the new Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) to the north of Wellingborough, known as Glenvale Park.  Provision for this school has been made within the planning consent and the Section 106 (S106) agreement for the SUE as a whole. The S106 agreement is a legal document which requires that sites suitable for two, two form of entry primary schools (or one 3 form of entry primary school – TBC), and the delivery of the first primary school is linked to the occupation of the 200^th dwelling. There are currently approximately 150 dwellings either occupied or sold at Glenvale Park.

Under the legislation which governs the establishment of new schools, North Northamptonshire Council is required to invite proposals to run the school from qualifying academy providers.  That competitive process will be starting later in the spring of 2022. Prior to commencing the process, however, the Council is consulting on the school proposal generally.

Reason a new school is required

A new development is underway called Glenvale Park located in Wellingborough, to the north of the town. Once complete there will be circa 3,000 homes. As part of the infrastructure and Section 106 (S106) proposals for the Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE), it allows for provision of two, two form entry (2FE) primary schools to serve the local community OR to extend the first delivered two form of entry primary school into a three form of entry (3FE) primary school.   

There are currently approximately 150 dwellings either occupied or sold at Glenvale Park and there are a number of house builders on-site and delivering development parcels with the capacity for up to approximately 1,250 dwellings. Having regard to the pace of development, and stipulations within the S106, the aim North Northants Council is to deliver the first primary school by September 2023. It is anticipated that there will be approximately 700 dwellings occupied by September 2023.

It is proposed that the school will be a co-educational mainstream sponsored academy primary school for children aged 4 to 11 years, with a total capacity of 420 pupils (two forms in each year group), once fully open. This size and type of provision is consistent with what the Council would expect for any development of the scale and nature of the Glenvale Park development. Its construction will be delivered by the developer of Glenvale Park, in lieu of financial S106 contributions.

The school is expected to open in a phased manner, allowing it to grow to accommodate new pupils as the housing comes on line. It is proposed the school will initially open with a PAN of 30 in Reception year and grow organically throughout the following academic years.

Due to the current Coronavirus pandemic and the impact of BREXIT, the timeline for delivery of the school may be subject to change. 

Pupil profile – Wellingborough

The SUE is expected to generate in excess of 900 primary age pupils, once complete and the S106 makes provision for two primary schools on the development, to provide sufficiency of school places for those who reside within the SUE.

Wellingborough town currently has 14 schools providing education to primary aged pupils. Within the town, there are currently; 8 primary schools, three junior schools, and three infant schools. The schools are as follows; All Saints CEVA Primary School, Avenue Infant School, Croyland Primary School. Freemans Endowed CE Junior Academy, Oakway Academy, Olympic Primary School. Our Lady’s Catholic Primary, Park Junior School, Redwell Primary, Ruskin Infant, Ruskin Junior, St Barnabas CE Academy, Victoria Primary and Warwick Academy.

In addition to the above a new two form of entry primary school is opening in September 2022 on the Stanton Cross SUE, located to the east of the town. This will increase primary school provision in Wellingborough to a total of 15.

Available primary school places within the town stand at 455 as of Dec 2021. This is available school places across all year groups from Reception to Year 6. It is expected that some of the surplus capacity will be utilised by the children and families moving into the first phase of completed houses within the Glenvale Park development, prior to the new school opening. The surplus capacity figure noted, includes all year groups. Stanton Cross is opening in September 2022 and will open with 30 school places in Reception.