Purpose

The County Council has a
statutory duty to provide sufficient school places for all children
who need a place. St Wilfrid’s Catholic School is a Voluntary
Aided 11-18 secondary school based in Crawley. Due to the urgent
need to provide additional secondary school places in Crawley the
school accepted bulge classes in the 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24
intake years. To reflect the continuing need for secondary places
the school increased its Published Admission Number (PAN) from 150
places per year to 180 places per year in 2024.
 
Whilst the school’s
Published Admission Number was increased, additional accommodation
has not been provided resulting in the school now operating
significantly over capacity. A planning application for additional
accommodation to enable a permanent expansion from 5FE to 6FE (750
to 900 places) in Years 7 to 11 was submitted to Crawley Borough
Council in November 2022, however it took until August 2025 for
planning approval to be received, due to delays associated with
water neutrality requirements.
 
The intention is that the
school will oversee delivery of the additional accommodation as a
school managed project. Therefore, approval is now sought for the
passporting of the required capital funding to the school to enable
delivery of the additional accommodation required to provide
teaching and associated spaces to support 900 places in years 7 to
11 and the needs of the expanding 6th form. 

Decision

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

(1)The passporting of a
maximum and not to be exceeded gross budget of £6.84m of
Schools Basic Need funding to St Wilfrid’s Catholic School in
Crawley to fund the work outlined in paragraph 2.2 of the report
and enable expansion from a 5 form entry
(FE) to a 6FE school.
 

(2)The settlement and
completion of the Development and Funding agreement and charge
document as a condition for the transfer of funds.