The possibility of building a third school in Ruddington – so that our growing village can cope with an influx of new, young families over the next few years – is being discussed by Councillors this week.
Members of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Children and Young People’s Committee are meeting at County Hall this Monday (13th December 2021) to wade through a seventy page document which includes a ‘Basic Need Programme of School Expansion’.
Up until now, the focus has been on a lack of secondary school places for village children who’ve previously attended James Peacock Infants School and St Peter’s Junior School. Recently Rushcliffe School has experienced unprecedented demand for places from the kids of families moving onto the vast, new housing estates around West Bridgford, Edwalton and Wilford. Now that Ruddington is getting hundreds of new houses of its own, it’s anticipated that our existing provision within the village for educating children up to 11 years’ old will be woefully inadequate. In fact, a table drawn up for Monday’s meeting (below) suggests Ruddington could be almost two hundred school places short by 2025-26!
The report reveals: “It is proposed to explore the possibility of taking the published admission numbers of both schools from 90 (3 Form Entry) to 120 (4 Form Entry), through a process of reconfiguration and, if required, additional building. This project, when completed, would allow for the allocation of a further 210 places (1 Form Entry).”
It adds: “Housing developer contributions are available should this project be agreed. It is anticipated that approximately half would need to be met from Basic Need. However, if feasibility demonstrates that it is not possible to deliver any expansion of existing schools, further enquiries will be necessary to establish the possibility of developing a stand-alone, one form entry school.”
If this new, one form entry Ruddington school does get built, it’s likely it would accommodate a single class of pupils right through the age range – from Reception to Year 6.
Headteacher of St Peter’s Junior School, Michael Bradley, told RUDDINGTON.info: “We are aware that additional primary school places will be needed for the families of Ruddington over the next several years. As a result, Nottinghamshire County Council is currently considering the options available to address this.”
Mr Bradley continues: “One possibility is to increase our admission numbers from 90 to 120 which would eventually see us expand from having three classes per year group to four. Should NCC be given the go ahead to undertake a feasibility study, we look forward to working closely with them to explore all options.”
It is currently being assessed whether sufficient new classroom space could be accommodated on our existing school sites at Manor Park and Ashworth Avenue. If not, a brand new location for a third Ruddington school may need to be found. Villagers will hope this wouldn’t involve any further building on what’s left of our precious Green Belt!
