Schools across the east midlands increasing pupil numbers to meet house building demands
In Leicestershire one secondary school will see it's student capacity triple what it was 10 years ago as they expand the site
There are growing demands for schools across the east midlands to increase pupil numbers as the amount of houses being built goes up.
A Leicestershire school is set for a whole new teaching block to meet growing pupil numbers. Long Field Spencer Academy, in Ambleside Way, Melton, is one of two secondary schools which serve the town and surrounding villages.
It currently has space for 900 pupils aged 11 to 16, but is oversubscribed with 930 on its register, planning documents reveal. A “significant increase” in house building in the area, as well as expected future residential developments, now require the school to expand.
Plans for a new two-storey teaching block on one of its playing fields have now been approved by Leicestershire County Council’s planning team. The scheme will increase capacity in the school by 300 pupils to 1,200.
Christopher Haggett is the Headteacher:
"When I first started 10 years ago, I had 400 students in my school, it now has 932 - so it's still quite a small school - but due to housing across the Melton area, I was asked whether I'd be willing to take an extra 300 students over five years. I said yes, that'd be fine, as I've got to the stage where I feel if I expand the school a little bit, it would still be the same school.
"The housing side of things is interesting because it's planned, and there's a calculation for how many school places they need. So, by the time our expansion is done, there'll be enough spaces in Melton for all the Melton children for, I think it's for the next 10 years.
"You have to get all your procedures right and what you're going to do about things, and once that's there and your staff know what they're doing and everyone's OK, you can expand a bit. But the pressures are there; you've just got more students, and so more needs, from those students, to cater for."
The block will be sat next to the existing school building. It will contain 10 general use classrooms, four science labs, music rooms, art and design rooms, a food tech space, dining areas and an assembly hall.
Additional parking spaces are also to be created through the works, increasing provision from 85 to 117. New sports pitches will replace the grass area that will be lost to the new building.
Approving the plans, planning officers said: “It will ensure that the school can continue to accept local children for schooling in the area as areas of local housing increase.”
Construction work is expected to start in November, planning documents state, and will take around six months to complete.