Extra places to be created at Wolverhampton schools to cope with demand
More classrooms are to be built at three Wolverhampton senior schools due to demand for spaces at a cost of more than £3 million.
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City councillors have approved plans to create new teaching blocks at Ormiston South Wolverhampton and Bilston Academy(SWB) and at Moseley Park Academy, both in Bilston, under a £3.2m scheme.
Under the programme Ormiston SWB, in Dudley Street, will increase capacity from 200 to 230 per year group, and Moseley Park, in Holland Road, Moseley, will increase capacity from 186 to 200 per year group.
Colton Hills Community School, in Jeremy Road, in Goldthorn Park, will increase capacity from 161 to 180 per year group without the need for major construction work.
All the places are due to be available to year seven pupils or 11-year-olds from September next year.
In addition the cabinet gave the green light for the creation of 63 additional places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) also due to a rise in demand for specialist school places in recent years.
The council said the number of children subject to education, health and care plans has risen by nearly 50 per in the last five years.
As a result the committee approved plans to increase capacity at Westcroft School, in Greenacres Avenue, Underhill, from 198 places to 210; Green Park School, in Green Park Avenue, in Bilston, from 147 places to 174.
The Speech, Language and Communication resource base at Palmers Cross Primary School, in Windermere Road, in Palmers Cross, will increase from 16 places to 30, and a new resource base at Ormiston North East Wolverhampton Academy(NEW), in Marsh Lane, in Fordhouses, will cater for 10 pupils, also with speech, language and communication needs.
These places are also due to be ready by the start of the 2025-26 academic year, however the council said a feasibility study is being undertaken in respect of Green Park School which may affect the timescale.
Wolverhampton's education chief Councillor Jacqui Coogan said: "We are determined to ensure that all our children live in an inclusive city and are able to achieve their full potential through education.
"The council has a statutory duty to ensure that sufficient good quality school places are available and, in order to meet local demand, we are creating additional secondary school places at three schools in the south east of the city.
"Meanwhile to meet rising demand for SEND provision across the city, we will deliver a combination of additional places in special schools, the expansion of one of our existing primary school resources bases and the creation of a new base in a secondary school.
"Latest figures show 92 per cent of schools in Wolverhampton are now rated either good or outstanding which is above the regional and national average. In addition more than nine in 10 of our pupils attend good or outstanding the best in the West Midlands."
