Garden Village Primary Academy - New School in Tamworth
A new primary school to open on the site of the former Tamworth Golf Course Development, Tamworth in September 2024.
Staffordshire County Council has identified the need to establish a new 210 place primary free school to serve new housing at the former Tamworth Golf Course site. The school, called the Garden Village Primary Academy will be run by Fiete Multi Academy Trust and is planned to open in September 2024. The school will be master-planned to expand up to 420 places when required in the future.
The initial phase of the new primary free school will be to deliver a 210-place mainstream, co-educational primary school for Reception to Year 6 age groups, plus early years provision.
Construction of the residential development on the former Tamworth Golf Course site (1,100 dwellings) commenced during 2018 and, over time, is estimated will yield approximately 347 primary school-aged children.
Public Consultation
Staffordshire County Council actively promotes a diverse supply of strong schools throughout the county, in line with the requirements of section 6A of the Education Act 2011. This includes encouraging good schools to expand and, where there is a need for a new school, seeking proposals for a free school.
A public consultation on the opening of the new school, was launched on Monday 3rd October and closed on Sunday 13th November 2022.
Engagement with our communities and stakeholders is extremely important to us. We endeavoured to obtain a wide range of responses by consulting directly with local schools and their Governors, Multi Academy Trusts with schools in the area, local councils, local-councillors, MPs, the Diocese, Trade Unions and the general public where we utilised social media to encourage feedback.
A good response was received from a range of stakeholders, the majority of which were in support of the new school.
Most respondents (79%) identified themselves as the general public or parents and carers. Additional responses (18%) were also received from people identifying themselves as school and academy staff and local councillors.
The majority felt that the new school would be of benefit to children and local residents, identifying more school places in the area as a positive outcome.
Respondents felt the new school would have an overall positive impact on the health and wellbeing of the local community, most notably through ease of access to education, social connections and the provision of a community facility. They also felt it would promote healthier lifestyles through walking and cycling to school and ease pressure on parents by delivering education infrastructure locally. Almost all those who responded agreed with the principle of sustainable travel to school.
Over half of those who responded felt the new school would strengthen community capacity and most of those felt this would be through additional community provision at the new school.
Some respondents queried what the impact could be on existing schools in the wider area. The new school is needed to mitigate the impact of the additional children that are expected to be generated by the ongoing housing development at Tamworth Golf Course. The new school will build pupil numbers incrementally, increasing by one year group each year. This means that upon opening, the school will admit children into Nursery and Reception year groups only. In the following year, the school will admit into Nursery, Reception and Year 1 year groups. The oversubscription criteria must reflect the fact that the school will open, principally, to serve families on the developed land at Tamworth Golf Course.
Some respondents expressed concerns about noise and traffic around the new school site. We acknowledge there will be some disruption during the construction phase of the new school but will endeavour to keep the noise and traffic to a minimum. Projects such as building a new school are usually subject to planning conditions, for example; work must only take place Monday to Friday 8am until 6pm, and occasionally Saturday mornings. No works are undertaken on Sunday’s or bank holidays. The new school is being delivered to mitigate the impact of the additional children generated by the new development, and as such sustainable methods of transport such as walking and cycling to school will be encouraged once the school is open.
The majority of respondents felt the new school would have a positive impact on economic growth, with most siting small business start-ups and job opportunities. However, some respondents queried the impact on local businesses and childcare providers. There is significant pressure on childcare provision across the whole area, and the number of vacancies is expected to continue to fall. Sufficiency is very fluid across Tamworth and recovery after Covid, rising cost of living and shortages in staffing all contribute to pressure in the sector. The existing pressure plus the demand from the new housing, indicate clearly a need to plan for good quality, flexible places for 3 and 4-year-olds at the new free school.