Purpose

The County Council has a statutory duty to
provide sufficient primary and secondary school places for all
children who need a place.
St Augustine’s CE Primary School is a
Voluntary Controlled 4-11 105 place Primary School incorporating 4
classrooms. One of the classrooms is accommodated in a life expired
modular classroom installed in 1988 which has significant
suitability and condition issues due to the age of the
building.
 
Projections indicate that there is continuing
need for the pupil places to ensure continued capacity for children
of primary age in the village and also within the wider
locality.
 
In November 2020, the then Cabinet Member for
Education and Skills approved the budget required to deliver a
number of small to medium sized capital projects at a range of
schools across the County (decision
ES10(20/21) refers). This decision included the proposal to
carry out an improvement project at St Augustine’s school by
using the S106 funds identified as being available at that
time.
 
In June 2024 approval was provided for the
allocation of £728k received S106 funds to replace the life
expired modular unit with a new permanent classroom to ensure the
retention of pupil places at the school (decision
OKD11(24/25) refers). This was in addition to £163k
previously approved under decision ES10(20/21), giving a total
gross budget of £891k.
 
Since then, further design work has been
undertaken which has identified a shortfall in the budget meaning
additional funding is required to enable the approved project to
proceed. Therefore, an additional £580k of Basic Need funding
is recommended to be allocated to this project to enable delivery
of the replacement teaching accommodation at St Augustine’s
CE Primary School.

Decision

The Cabinet Member for Children, Young People
and Learning has approved:-
 

(1) The allocation of
an additional £580k of Basic Need funding for the delivery of
the works required to replace the modular teaching accommodation at
St. Augustine’s School, bringing the total approved budget
for the project to £1.471m.

(2)The delegation of
authority to the Assistant Director (Property & Assets), to
submit a planning application, commence a procurement process and,
following conclusion, to award a contract or contracts necessary to
deliver the approved scheme within the financial parameters set out
in the report.