A consultation launched this week is asking people to give their views on planning for new school places in Bristol.
Bristol City Council has a statutory duty to ensure there are enough school places within its area.
A School Organisation Strategy to cover the period from 2012 to 2016 has been developed to identify the demand for school places and how this demand will be met, in the form of short, medium and long-term proposals.
People in Bristol are being asked to read through the proposals and let the council know what they think, through an online survey at http://www.citizenspace.com/bristol/cyps/schoolorganisationstrategy
Over the last few years, Bristol has seen a rapid rise in the number of children starting school. Further new issues placing demand on school places in the city include:
- the need for increased and targeted special education needs provision;
- new entitlement for early education for two year olds;
- the raising of the school participation aged to 17; and
- the impact of greater numbers of children currently at primary school moving on to secondary education.
Cabinet member for Children and Young People, Councillor Clare Campion-Smith, said: “The School Organisation Strategy sets out plans for meeting the need for school places over the next four years. It will impact on communities across the city and we welcome feedback on the measures put forward.
“Given the scale of the increase in pupil numbers, all of the simple school expansion options have been exhausted and we are now looking at brand new sites in preparation for children coming through in 2014/15. We are making use of a mix of existing council property and commercial opportunities as soon as they become available.
“I would like to thank all the schools who have contributed so far and there is now an opportunity for communities to make their views known as the strategy is open for consultation.”
