Expansion consultation

Consulatation on the expansion of Academy@Worden, Westfield Drive, Leyland PR25 1QX

What is happening and why?

As part of Lancashire County Council’s duty to provide enough pupil places for Lancashire children, Lancashire County Council is proposing to start the process to expand Academy@Worden (secondary school). The proposal would eventually lead to the provision of an additional 310 secondary school places.

We are now starting a period of consultation seeking the views of interested parties. The consultation period will commence on 5^th December 2022 and will end on 8^th January 2023.

Background

Increases in pupil numbers as a result of increased birth rates in the local area, coupled with the effect of significant housing development, means the number of school places currently available across South Ribble and Chorley will not be enough to meet the increased demand over the next few years.

On 6^th October 2022, Lancashire County Council's Cabinet approved the School Place Planning Delivery Programme 2023-25, which includes the provision of 560 additional secondary places in future years at Chorley and South Ribble secondary schools.  It is proposed that the additional places would be gradually increased by 112 places per school year with effect from September 2024.

The proposed expansion of Academy@Worden would provide an additional 310 places, by admitting 62 additional pupils to each Year 7 with effect from September 2024. This would follow the school exceeding its Published Admission Number by 62 places in 2023/24 via a temporary expansion within existing accommodation.

The permanent expansion of the school from September 2024 would be delivered through the provision of internal remodelling within existing accommodation and potential additional accommodation provided at the building onsite formally known as the Leyland Learning Centre.

The approval of the proposal to permanently expand Academy@Worden (secondary school) would help to address the projected shortfall of places and ensure so far as is reasonably possible that every child is provided with a school place in close proximity to their home.

School information and consultation so far

Lancashire County Council's pupil projections indicate a shortfall of secondary school places in the combined Chorley andSouth Ribble planning areas and identify a need for additional permanent places from September 2024.

In early 2022 a consultation exercise was conducted with all the secondary schools in the districts of Chorley and South Ribble, where expressions of interest were sought for temporary expansion for 2023/24 and permanent expansion from 2024/25.

An appraisal process was carried out to consider the expansion proposals from schools interested in expansion and it was concluded that Academy@Worden (Secondary school) offered an ideal location for school expansion to meet the shortfall in the area and has a school site large enough to accommodate a permanent school expansion with the potential of additional existing accommodation.

Academy@Worden is a popular secondary school.  Academy@Worden currently has achieved a 'Good' rating in its last Ofsted Inspection (January 2020).

Timescale

Current consultation

A period of consultation is to be undertaken on the proposal to allow an increase in the Published Admission Number of Academy@Worden from 118 to 180 places from September 2024, over time expanding the number of places in the school from 590 to 900, following a temporary expansion in 2023.  This would be enabled by utilising existing accommodation within the academy and the onsite building formally known as the Leyland Learning Centre.

Parents of Academy@Worden pupils and wider stakholders have been informed about the consultation via a letter.

Your views

We want to hear what you think about the proposal to expand Academy@Worden, over time providing an additional 310 secondary school places.

This is a formal consultation and representations will be used to inform the next steps in relation to additional secondary school places in South Ribble and Chorley.

You can have your say on this proposal until 5pm on 8^th January 2023 via the online survey https://forms.office.com/r/zgBadbWkGu or by email to  schoolexpansionproposal@wordenacademy.co.uk.