Overview

The Council’s Executive meeting on 24 February 2022 authorised the commencement of the statutory process relating to the amalgamation of Tennyson Road Infant School and Alfred Street Junior School, Rushden.

We are seeking your initial views on the options of the proposed amalgamation.

What is this consultation about?

This initial consultation is about a proposed almalgamation of:

• Tennyson Road Infant School which  provides education for children aged 4 to 7 years. 
• Alfred Street Junior School which provides education for children aged 7 to 11 years.

An amalgamation brings together, two (or more) Local Authority maintained schools as one single school, located on the same site and under the same leadership and governance arrangements.

Both schools: 

• are in Rushden on separate sites 0.7 miles apart.
• are linked i.e. children from the Infant School complete their primary phase of education at the Junior School.
• have community status.
• currently have ‘requires improvement’ Ofsted ratings.

To address several financial and operational challenges at Alfred Street and Tennyson Road schools the Council was approached by the governing bodies from both schools to support an amalgamation.

Council officers support the request of the governing bodies and agree that the proposed amalgamation would be to the benefit of children in the local area. It would also seek to address financial concerns regarding the long-term viability of operating as two separate schools. There are strong views regarding the potential site of a new school.

This consultation is gathering the views of all interested parties so that the Council can use the feedback in its consideration for the future of both schools.

To progress the amalgamation of both schools a statutory process as defined by the Department for Education must be followed by the Council.

The table below shows the various stages the council is following. This initial consultation is within Stage 1 of this timetable.

Related documents

You can view the Executive committee report, legislation, statutory guidance, and a site location map of both schools below.

• Executive - 22 February 2022-  Proposed Amalgamation of Tennyson Road and Alfred Street Schools
• Education and Inspections Act 2006
• Opening and closing maintained schools 2019
• Making significant changes (‘prescribed alterations’) to maintained schools - 2018
• Map - Location of Tennyson Road and Alfred Street Schools

Why your views matter

The Council is seeking your views on the following options:

Option 1:  Maintain the status quo – To maintain the status quo is to keep things the way they presently are.  That is, two separate maintained schools, one infant and one junior that remain on the sites that they are presently located in.  No change.   

The challenges with this option are:  Pupil numbers continue to fall at each school and each school budget is adversely impacted as a result. Lack of available budget begins to impact upon each school’s ability to effectively deliver the curriculum to pupils and impacts upon individual pupils’ levels of attainment.

Option 2:   A technical closure is undertaken at one of the schools. This means that the other school remains open, extends its age range to become a full primary school.  The new school retains its Department for Education (DfE) number and its Ofsted rating and becomes an all through primary provision.  

The challenge with this option is:  Depending on where the school is located it may mean that parents and children have to travel that little bit further to the chosen site for the school.

Option 3:  Both schools are formally closed. This means that a new school is established as a primary school.  If both schools close, it may be the case that the new school could become an academy and part of a Multi Academy Trust.

The challenge with this option is:  Depending on where the new school is located it may mean that parents and children from both schools have to travel further to the chosen site for the school.

Have your say

Please tell us your views by completing this questionnaire. You do not have to answer all of the questions or give us your feedback on every section. If you do not wish to answer a question or give feedback on a specific section, then you can skip those questions and move on to the next section.

Your feedback will be part of a report with many other people’s feedback, so you will not be personally identified.

You can also access this online questionnaire free of charge at any North Northamptonshire Council library. Customers are asked to check the opening times of the library you wish to visit and book an appointment in advance. Please see the Library website or telephone 0300 126 3000 to check times and make a booking.

Alternatively, you can email or send your comments in by post using the contact details below.

If you have any queries, comments or would like a copy of this questionnaire in another format (including paper, easy read or large print) please contact us.

Email address: lseadmin.ncc@northnorthants.gov.uk

Postal address:

• North Northamptonshire Council
• Initial Consultation: Tennyson Road Infant School and Alfred Street Primary School
• Sheerness House
• Meadow Road
• Kettering
• NN16 8TL

This consultation will run from Monday 7 March to midnight on Friday 29 April 2022.

Thank you for helping us by completing this questionnaire.

For information about how consultation and engagement responses are managed, please see the consultation and engagement privacy notice.