Grove Park School Expansion to Proceed

Introduction of two form entry at primary moves to next stage

The expansion of Grove Park School to become a two-form entry primary has moved a step closer. The cabinet of Hounslow Council has decided to publish a statutory notice of their intention to expand the school and 16 others in the borough.

The intention is to expand the schools from 2014/15 to help meet rising demand for places. This follows two months of informal consultation with parents and schools about the plans. Following the publication of these notices there will be a further four-week period of consultation which is the final opportunity for people and organisations to express their views about the proposals.

Cllr Steve Curran, cabinet member for education and housing at the council, said, "The growth in the demand for places we are looking at for the next few years is huge, and there is no corner of the borough that is unaffected. Local schools are incredibly popular and we are determined to try to make sure parents are able to get a place at their local school. These plans will help us make sure parents have a better choice of places to send their children for years to come."

Headteacher, Alex Cornelius has said of the proposal "By increasing in size, it means that the school is able to support the teachers in a far greater way. One of the issues from a leadership and management angle is that in a 1 form entry school, teachers have no choice, but to plan solely for their year group. Within a 2 form entry school, they are able to ‘share the load’ and support one another, both in practice and planning. This often has huge benefits for the ‘key stages’ and, it goes without saying, the children themselves."

Alex Cornelius

One parent told ChiswickW4.com at the time of the original consultation, “We understand that it’s a logistically a nightmare for the LEA to find places for everyone but they haven’t thought this through. Losing the music room is something we couldn’t do anything about but the expansion is something we can make our views known on. A local official has admitted the school would be available for the whole of Chiswick since catchment areas were abolished. This would have extra traffic and road safety implications."

Hounslow has seen a rapid increase in the number of school-aged children in recent years and, in order to provide the necessary capacity, the council has been creating extra places at schools that have the potential to expand and where demand is highest.

Since 2008 the council has increased the number of places across the borough, adding individual classes (known as bulge classes) and completely expanding a school.

More classes have already been provided for this the current academic year to meet the increasing demand for places across the borough. This has seen almost 800 additional school places added across 24 primary schools, as well as extra places have been set up for children with special education needs.

The seventeen schools that councillors agreed to publish formal notices to expand are:

Crane Park Primary School
Feltham Hill Infant School
Feltham Hill Junior School
Grove Park Primary School
Hounslow heath Infant School
Hounslow Heath Junior School
Isleworth Town Primary School
Lionel Primary School
Norwood Green Infant School
Norwood Green Junior School
Sparrow Farm Infant School
Sparrow Farm Junior School
Springwell Infant School
Springwell Junior School
St Paul’s CE Primary School
The Blue CE Primary School
Wellington Road Primary School

September 8, 2012