Proposal to expand St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in ...

Cabinet Member for Education and Schools
Proposal to expand St Joseph’s Catholic Primary
School in Haywards Heath
March 2012
Report by Executive Director of Finance and
Performance and Head of Capital and Asset
Management/Capital Planning Manager
Ref: ES22
(11.12)
Key Decision:
Yes
Part I
Electoral
Division(s):
Haywards Heath
East /Cuckfield
and Lucastes
Recommendation
That the Cabinet Member approves the publication of statutory notices to
expand St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School from a one and a half form entry
(315 place school) to a two form of entry primary school (420 place school)
from September 2013 and that should no irresolvable objections be received
the expansion be implemented.
1. Introduction
1.1 The County Council and Diocese of Arundel and Brighton Catholic Schools
Service have been closely monitoring the number of children at St Joseph’s
Catholic Primary School in Haywards Heath to ensure the school can meet
the demand for Catholic places. The level of baptisms has been growing and
the number of applications for the school has been higher than the places
available for some time. As a result officers propose expanding St Joseph’s
Catholic Primary School to cater for this demand.
1.2 It is proposed to expand the school from a one and a half form entry school
(315 place school) to a two form of entry school (420 place school). Due to
the nature of this particular expansion, being by more than 30 pupils and
greater than 25% of the current capacity, a full statutory public consultation
is required. The proposal is to increase the Published Admission Number
from the current 45 to 60. A two form of entry school is a preferred model of
organisation with no requirement for mixed age teaching. The school
supports this approach to expanding numbers and welcomes the enhanced
facilities given the need to accommodate future rolls.
2. Consultation
2.1 An initial confidential briefing was given to the Cabinet Member, County Local
Committee Members, the Chief Executive of Mid Sussex District Council, the
Teaching Associations and Unions and the local MP, Rt Hon Nicholas Soames,
before informal consultation began (7th February 2012). On 7 th February a
letter and response form was sent to the following members of the
community:-
• Parents
• Staff

• Governors
• Neighbouring Local Authorities
• The Dioceses of Chichester, and of Arundel and Brighton
• Unions and Teaching Associations
• Mid Sussex District Council
• Haywards Heath Town Council
• The Local MP
• Local Members of the County Council
• All maintained schools in the Haywards Heath locality, both primary and
secondary
• Early Years providers feeding into the school
• Haywards Heath and Crawley Libraries
1.2 The letter was also available online and a public meeting was held at the
school on 21 st February at 6.30pm.
2.3 At the close of the informal consultation, 10 written responses were received.
The majority of responses were from parents of existing pupils and
Governors at St Joseph’s.
2.4 Six respondents expressly stated that they approved of the proposal, three
were against and one did not specifically answer one way or the other. The
majority of concerns were about the potential disruption from the building
works to the education of existing pupils and the potential loss of a small
school ethos.
2.5 A full analysis of all consultation responses is attached as part of the
Customer Focus Appraisal at Appendix 1.
2.6 A separate consultation will begin in the late spring of 2012 to consider site
and access issues as a precursor to the planning application. This will be
aimed at residents that live close to the proposed site who will be directly
impacted. It is separate from the formal consultation on the principles of
expanding education provision at St Joseph’s.
3. Customer Focus Appraisal
3.1 A Customer Focus Appraisal has been undertaken and is attached as
Appendix 1 to this report.
4. Resource Implications and Value for Money
4.1 The proposals offer value for money and are carefully tailored to the
resources available. The County Council’s capital programme 2012/13
includes an allocation for capital works at St. Joseph`s under the heading
‘Primary and Secondary Basic Need, Other Schemes’ for the construction of 3
classbases, remodelling an existing classroom and creating a learning
resource space. The budget is based on initial feasibility work completed by
architects working with the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton and the West
Sussex Capital and Asset Management Team.

4.2 The expanded school will be efficient to run because it will meet current
building regulations and energy efficiency standards.
5. Risk Management Implications
5.1 Should there be a delay to the capital build there is a chance that local
Catholic children will have to travel to Burgess Hill for a Catholic education or
to non-denominational schools in other parts of Haywards Heath and that
siblings would not be able to attend the same school. This could have an
impact on other local children where places could be taken up in nondenominational
schools.
5.2 There is a possibility that the scheme may cost more than the feasibility
suggests as outlined in the identified risks eg. the power supply is
inadequate for the increased size of the school. The WSCC Project Manager
will manage these risks carefully with the architects and building contractors
employed by the Diocese.
6. Crime and Disorder Act Implications
6.1 There are no implications for the County Council’s duty to avoid or to reduce
crime or antisocial behaviour associated with this decision.
7. Human Rights Act Implications
7.1 The obligation to promote and to avoid interference with the human rights of
any individual or group is not affected by this decision.
Richard Hornby
Executive Director
Finance and Performance
Colin James
Head of Capital and Asset
Management
Contact: Vanessa Cummins – 01243 752321 (x52321)
Appendix 1
Customer Focus Appraisal
Background Papers
None