This topic is for discussing the recent planning application the school has made. The plan is to remove the double temporary classroom and create a new hall and a new permenant classroom. The old hall will be converted into a classroom and other general improvements to the layout will be made. The planning application is S/2007/2326 and you can view the application on-line at the Salisbury District Council website. (As well as the application you can see plans, elevations, the response of the parish council and lots of letters from objectors!).

Various rumours have circulated regarding the application and the point of this topic is to try and state exactly what the plans are and to allow everybody who is involved the opportunity to discuss the plans. I must admit I am vaguely in favour of the plans, but I will do my best to keep to the facts - please feel free to point out where I have failed.

An overview of the project is best provided by Ann Philp (vicar and governor) in a letter to local residents and reproduced in full in The Bridge

Proposed Building Project

Background

1. Our recent OFSTED report criticised the school for not having space where all the children can meet together.
2. The plethora of temporary classrooms is unattractive
3. We have a growing need to house computers and other resources like books (many of which are housed in passageways).

In order to address these:-

We have succesfully re-sited the school entrance away from the road. This was possible after we raised money for the car park but the reception area of the school however is still just off the road and it is a long walk from the school entrance to get to it which means we have strangers waling across the site as well as parents. This is not safe for our children. We wish to move reception therefore to the back of the school where people can sign in and we can monitor access.

We have lived with temporary classrooms for a very long time and they are becoming unsightly and in need of repair. In the current plan some of these are to be replaced.

A hall will be built so that all pupils can gather in one place for meetings, plays, some physical activity and music and for eating.

This is not a large hall and should we put equipment into it, it will be suitable for 4 to 11 year olds and not available nor suitable for adults.

To move our reception area and the small kitchen that is near it across the site to be near the entrance. (this will free up space for some of our books/computers or other equipment)

We wish to replace two temporary classrooms with attractive buildings.

While this is happening we still have to teach our children so as a temporary measure one of these mobile units will be sited near the top of the school ground. It will be removed when the work is finished.

At the end of the day the site will be much more attractive for everyone in the school and in the community.

There seems to be a rumour that our numbers are set to increase. That's not so. Our numbers are set by the local education authority who manages pupil entrance to all schools across Wiltshire. The birth rate is falling not growing. There are many schools around us and there are no plans to close any of them. Small schools are not viable and any increase in our numbers would impact on others.

Ideally we would love it if had just a few more children so that we do not have to teach in mixed-age classes which we do at present but realistically there is no hope that this will happen.

Ann Philp.

From what I have gathered most people to do not have major objections to this specific change of use but are genuinely concerned, despite the guarantees, that our already large village school will grow even larger. I will try and summarise some of the issues that I have come across but please look through the objections on the Salisbury District Council for the full picture. (Both the questions and answers are my words so apologies for any inaccuracies).

1. Thanks very much for the letter - but next time please organise an open meeting in the school, show us all the plans, let us ask all our questions straight away, stop any rumours and get local residents on board from the beginning.
   Sorry. This was a consequence of how events have unfolded. It is important to get approval as soon as possible and it is only recently that plans have been completed and any questions could be answered.
2. You've spent £45,000 on a new septic tank, £90,000 on a new car park and now £500,000 on a new hall. Do you really expect us to believe you don't have plans to grow.
   It is impossible for us to grow without new classrooms. Classrooms that would require planning permission. This application has nothing to do with increasing the number of children attending the school. Please trust us. These changes will be of a massive benefit to the school and we have been asking unsuccesfully for funding for many years. Now out of the blue we have the funding but the longer it takes us to get the plans approved then the possibility of the funding being taken away increases.
3. Come on you want to make the school bigger
   In educational terms there are enormous advantages of having have one class per year (children are in each class for a year so planning and teaching is much simpler) so we would be pleased if this happened however we realise that not only will local residents object to this, but the LEA is unlikely to want us to take children from other schools - it is unlikely to happen and as already stated is nothing to do with this application.
4. Once you have relocated and plumbed in the temporary classroom you won't remove it once the work is finished.
   The removal of the temporary classroom is part of the tender for the work to be done. We won't be able to keep it after the work without a further planning application.
5. Why can't you promise us that the school will not grow any further?
   Although we think it is unlikely the school will grow any larger we are not in a position to make any sort of promise. These decisions are out of our hands. Who knows what will happen with local development, education policy, birth rates and other schools opening and closing.
6. The building is too high. There are large areas of glass facing the village which will cause light pollution.
7. The school will use the hall for after school clubs and hire it out at night, at the weekend and in holidays to raise some cash but causing further disruption to local residents.
   The school has no plans to make money from the new hall. It is not a requirement of the funding. The current hall is used by a number of organisations outside of school hours and there are no plans to increase this. However the school is happy to share the resource if it does not upset local residents.
   

Please feel free to add your comments. (If I have made any gross errors they can be corrected!)