New primary school for Fir Vale

Story: Rohan Francis

Plans to build a new primary school on Skinnerthorpe Road were agreed by Sheffield Council at a meeting on 15th November. The school will aim to meet the increasing need for extra primary school places in the area. It will be run as an Academy and built using £5.5 million of Government money.

Council officers first revealed the proposals at a public meeting at the Pakistan Advice and Community Association on 22nd October (picture right), where residents were told the new school would be one of two new primary academies planned for the City – the other will be built on the former Watermead school site in Shirecliffe. Due to a change in the law, all new schools have to be offered as an Academy in the first instance.

At the meeting, Alena Prentice, from the Council's Inclusion and Learning Department, described the urgent need to create new local school places, presenting recent figures that identified Fir Vale as one of the fastest growing populations in the city.

Furthermore, with both Whiteways and Owler Brook primary schools now full, she said many families were struggling to find local school places for their children. Over 60 local families were forced to travel to more than one school each morning, with some having to go far outside the area for a place.

Christine Rose, the Council's Regeneration Manager, told the meeting that the proposed location for the school was the Skinnerthorpe and Bagley Road site. The site was previously occupied by over 140 homes and was cleared for the construction of new housing under the Fir Vale Masterplan.

The Council also revealed that the Environment Agency had recently designated almost half of the Skinnerthorpe and Bagley Road site a ‘Flood Alert Area’, which means any new buildings, including the proposed school, would have to be designed to cope with the risk of floods (See A new plan for Fir Vale?).

The Council's presentation raised a number of frustrated and angry voices from the assembled residents, some of whom had owned properties on Skinnerthorpe Road. Several people voiced unhappiness that the Council had abandoned any discussion with the community about regeneration and instead decided to build a school where homes and community facilities were originally promised.

Questions were raised about the Council's strategic educational plan, asking that full consideration be given to the impact of new primary schools on surrounding secondary schools.

Several people pointed out that the meeting was not representative of the community, there were no local mothers present and that the community should be properly consulted.

Despite the mood of the meeting, few people were against a new school in principle. The proposals were confirmed by the Council in November, with the aim of having the school open by September 2014. The Council also agreed formally that the site would no longer be set aside for housing.

The next step is to invite prospective Academy sponsors to submit their expressions of interest. The Secretary of State will make the decision on which sponsor will get to run the school.

The Council has said it will be talking to residents about the plans over the next two months. They told us that details of these meetings should be available in the coming weeks.

For further information about the school contact the Council on 273 5820 or email: SchoolReorganisation@sheffield.gov.uk