Shepshed schools campus changes - have your say

We use government accommodation guidelines to determine the student capacity range requirements. This includes, amongst others, classrooms, kitchen and dining facilities, staff accommodation/offices, SEND provision, storage, toilets and teacher prep rooms. We have then worked with the headteacher and governors to choose priorities in space allocation.

When it was Hind Leys college, if the building was used for 11–18 year olds, the capacity range would have been between 724–806 places. The new block and other adaptations will add more than 150 places, we are therefore confident there will be sufficient space to meet the school’s requirement.

In time this will be necessary, however the increase in primary places will grow over a 3–5-year period. Our experience shows that we wouldn’t expect to see a high increase in secondary places until at least 2027 as the primary pupils get older and feed through to secondary education.

This is partially explained in the previous question. In addition, as most of the new places are to meet housing growth the extension of the secondary school will be paid from funds secured from housing developers.   

Whilst we have received some of this funding for houses already completed, further funding will be received over the next 5–7 years. We will plan how best this funding is used to create extra secondary places in the local area when this is secured.

There will be a reconfiguration to classrooms which will incorporate a new corridor to ease pupil flow around the north side of the building. These classes will be refurbished with new lighting, ceiling and flooring, along with student toilets and teacher workrooms. There will also be a large increase to the student dining facility space.

A new hard standing area outside the back of classrooms, leading to the playing fields, as well as a smaller area at the front corner near to the Toy Library will be laid.

An additional science classroom will be created by using space from the design and technology area, which will also see slight improvements to facilities.

The remodelling of the main school building will also incorporate a new administration/staff wing at the front of an enlarged entrance and new foyer which will be attached to the new classroom block.    

Along with the new entrance there will be a refurbishment of the toilets close to the theatre. This will complement the renovated and newly opened Social, Emotional and Mental Health and Communication and Interaction (primarily Autism) unit, which greatly improves the community use facilities including an increase in changing rooms space.

The new Six classroom block will be accompanied by a staff work room, office and toilets.

We are working with the Highways department as part of the planning application. A review of the parking and traffic management on the campus is being undertaken to decide what is required to improve safety. Further details will be published on our website as the scheme moves forward.

We wish to achieve the maximum community benefit from facilities available at each school. Our primary aim in terms of the redevelopment is to provide first class teaching spaces, in keeping with the capital funding available to us.

Clearly any improvement to any sports facilities will help to enhance the campus, hence the local authority will seek to work with the school and community/sports users to access other potential sources of funding, for example, through the Football Foundation to install a 3G pitch and associated facilities.  

There may be further funding that local sports clubs could access through sport governing bodies, Big Lottery fund and other charitable foundations, which could also enhance facilities further.

We have looked at different options to where to increase primary places and concluded the campus at Forest Road enables these places, from the numerous housing developments, to be created. There are also key benefits to be derived from the co-location of primary, secondary and SEND facilities. For example, ensuring there is good continuity and progression for pupils between schools, and sharing of expertise and resources.

In practical terms placing a new primary school in Shepshed would require the local authority to request land to be provided and a school to be built from a developer, we would need a single housing development of at least 700 dwellings. As housing has grown in smaller phases around Shepshed there has never been one development which would have triggered the need for a new school.

Leicestershire has a range of different size primary schools with eleven of those above 600 places. All these primary schools are rated good or outstanding.

The benefit of larger primary schools is having greater resources and funding to deal with challenges as they arise. Nevertheless, in day to day terms they will operate similar to smaller schools for example through separate year groups or key stage clusters.

The current primary school building is undersized, inside and outside and moving to a larger building will ensure that pupils have the right amount of space for their needs. Plans are for pupils to create their own smaller communities within parts of the building based on their own age groups (Foundation, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2) with separate entrances for each. This will be enhanced by having separate playgrounds and outdoor equipment for the younger age groups and older pupils..

We have previously explained that we are looking carefully at how traffic and people movement can be improved on the site. However, we are also looking at what security improvements can be incorporated bearing in mind, as school sites, they shouldn't be open for unauthorised public access. As part of these proposals, we will be looking at additional fencing and further measures to ensure the site is made more secure.