Purpose

Ensuring there are sufficient school places to
meet parental demand is a statutory duty for councils. This means
that councils must make population and pupil forecasts in order to
anticipate changes in demand. Where additional places are required
the council is responsible for securing them. This applies to
maintained schools, voluntary controlled schools, voluntary aided
schools, free schools and academies.
Every year the council is required to make a school capacity (SCAP)
return to the Department for Education (DfE). This includes
information about the number of children on roll in each school
planning area by age, as well as details of the capacity of
schools.
The data from the SCAP return has, over recent years, identified
building pressure on primary places in the golden valley.

On 27th October 2022, Herefordshire Council agreed to rebuild
Peterchurch Primary school on its current site, with an investment
of over £10m.

The rebuild of the school will increase the capacity of the school
from 105 to 140 and will include a Nurture Hub which will
accommodate a further 8 learners. Increasing the capacity of the
school, will help reduce this pressure on places in the golden
valley.

There is an increasing need for SEN spaces. The proposed Nurture
Hub will provide a flexible space that can be adapted to support
the needs of the Golden Valley and the wider county. The hub can be
used to give dedicated support to additional learners, for example,
with social, Emotional and Mental Health (SEMH) needs and/or low
level autism.