SHEFFIELD CITY COUNCIL NEWS RELEASE
Wednesday 15 July 2015
NEW SECONDARY SCHOOL PLANS POSSIBLE FOR SHEFFIELD
PARENTS are to be consulted on proposals to build two brand new secondary schools in
the north east and south west of Sheffield, designed to meet rising demand for school
places.
Over the last few years Sheffield City Council has been rolling out an expansion programme
across the city to deal with issues caused by increased population growth.
A raft of consultation with parents in the areas affected came to the conclusion earlier this
year that an ambitious plan was needed to make sure places were available for many years
to come.
More consultation will be carried out over the coming months to establish exact plans, but
the proposal is for a five-form, 750 place school in the former Pye Bank school at Woodside,
in the Burngreave area and another in the Holt House area in the South West, to open in
2018. This could be an eight-form entry school with places for 1,200 pupils.
Proposals are also on the cards for primary schools in the affected areas as well, in order to
stabilise the squeeze on school places.
All the details are set to be agreed by the Cabinet at a meeting next week before formally
going out for consultation.
Councillor Jackie Drayton, Sheffield City Council’s Cabinet Member for Children, Young
People and Families said: “Every child should have access to a good education on their
doorstep, and that is our number one priority. This in turns leads on to them being able to
achieve their potential – again a key priority for us. And schools should be at the heart of
communities. All these proposals are a direct result of widespread consultation with schools
and communities in the areas who have told us where the problems are and what they
would want to see achieved to make it better. We have listened to your proposals and now
we want to act on them. This strategic vision will see two new outstanding secondary
schools in a programme which recognises the aspirations of families to have access to high
quality education for their children within their local area.
“But let me be quite clear – none of this will happen unless parents tell us this is exactly
what they want. That is why we are planning to do a huge amount of consultation work with
parents, schools, affected communities and key stakeholders in the area to make sure this
this is the right move. We need everybody to be behind this, and I am confident this will be
the case. ”
In the north east of the city the proposal is to also create additional primary provision of 210
places, either through expansion of a local school or a new primary school
An additional 60 Year 7 places would still needed by 2017 prior to the opening of the new
secondary school, with plans to meet this flexibly at the four schools in the area – Hinde
House, Firth Park, Parkwood and Fir Vale
In the southwest the secondary school would have links to a new/rebuilt Holt
House/Carterknowle Primary school, in turn enabling expansion of Ecclesall schools
A further additional 60 places – two form entry – could also be added to Silverdale
secondary school by 2017, under the proposals, to provide sufficient secondary places for
the south west into the next decade.
Plans also include a further additional 90 Year 7 places for 2016/17 to accommodate
children transferring from primary school in the area. This could be met by temporary places
at Silverdale in advance of permanent expansion, and Newfield, which is linked to Mercia
Academy Trust.
There will also be consultation on the possible permanent expansion of Ecclesall Infant
School from 60 to 90 places per year.
Similarly consultation will be held around junior places for children at Clifford Infant school,
with plans to make this a through primary school – which could be re-located to the current
Carterknowle Junior school site. This in turn would free up 30 places at Ecclesall Junior
school, where Clifford Infants currently transfer to for junior phase, for the expanding infant
school intake.
Other plans include the merger of Holt House Infant and Carterknowle Junior School on a
single site.
Full consultation on all of the proposals will be carried out in the Autumn term with the
schools and communities affected. A final decision is expected just before Christmas.
Since a recent low point in 2002, births in Sheffield have risen by up to 25 per cent. This has
already resulted in over 1,000 more children coming into Sheffield primary schools each
year. Despite this the council has still managed to offer 97 per cent of families a place at
one of their preferred schools. This is largely due to an expansion programme which has
added over 4,500 primary school places across the city. The most significant challenge for
the rest of the decade is to see the growth through into secondary schools.
ENDS