Purpose

St Anthony’s School in
Chichester is a Special School for children and young people aged
between 4 and 16 with moderate learning difficulties. Current
places are insufficient to meet the need for special school places
in the area resulting in children being placed in the Independent
and Non-Maintained Sector (INMS). There is a need to expand St
Anthony’s to ensure there are appropriate and sufficient
places in accordance with the County Council’s
Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Strategy
2019-2024.
 
Sharing a site with St
Anthony’s School is Jessie Younghusband Primary School which
is a 4-11 Primary School providing up to 210 places.  It is proposed to relocate Jessie Younghusband
from its current location to a new 1 Form of Entry (FE) Primary
School (210 places) which is being built on the housing development
west of Chichester, known as Minerva Heights.  Relocating Jessie Younghusband would leave a
vacant building at the current site which could then be used for
the purposes of expanding St Anthony’s school.
 
The creation of a primary
school in a new location together with the need to include the
additional children who will live in Minerva Heights for future
school place planning means it is necessary to consider the
appropriateness of current catchment areas for primary admissions
in the local area.
 
Therefore, approval is sought
to undertake a consultation to obtain feedback on the proposed
changes.

Decision

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young
People, Learning and Skills has approved the launch of a public
consultation, in accordance with the Department for
Education’s
Making Significant Change (‘prescribed alternations’)
to maintained schools, to seek views on the proposals to:
 

(1)Relocate Jessie
Younghusband Primary School to the primary school site at Minerva
Heights Chichester and, subject to approval of this proposal to

(2)Expand St
Anthony’s School into the vacant Jessie Younghusband Primary
School site and building, and

(3)Review and update
the Chichester primary school catchment area to ensure it reflects
the changes brought about by the delivery of strategic housing
developments across the city.