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Homes will lead to 630 new Aldershot school places

By Amy Taylor
December 18, 2012

A PLAN to provide more than 600 places for an influx of primary-age students into Aldershot has been approved.

The plan to create a school on the Aldershot Urban Extension (AUE), known as Project Wellesley, has been approved by Hampshire County councillors, firing the gun on a borough-wide consultation on how to place the facility.

Some 3,850 new homes on the AUE site will prompt an urgent need for 630 primary places by 2015.

With the first phase of Project Wellesley expected to be submitted to Rushmoor Borough Council next week, the countdown is on to make sure Aldershot’s schools are not put under more pressure.

The need will either be met by a new primary school, as near to the AUE site as possible, or by extending nearby secondarys such as The Connaught School to include four to 16-year-olds.

This has never been done in Hampshire but the Westgate School in Winchester plans to expand in 2014, the first in the county to offer education across these age groups.

A report for councillors said: “It will not begin admitting pupils into the primary phase until September 2014, four-to-16 education in Hampshire is not yet a tested model, although excellent examples exist in other parts of the country.”

If the Connaught School were expanded, it would be given two sets of admission numbers – one for pupil numbers from four to 11 and another for secondary levels.

Pupils could stay on for secondary school or look elsewhere. This would account for 90 places.

Hampshire’s executive member for children’s services, Cllr Roy Perry, said: “New primary places could be provided through a new primary school or newly built provision as part of the catchment secondary school by changing the school’s character to create four to 16 all-through provision.

“Consultations will be needed to deal with the second phase of primary education provision for AUE, anticipated in 2020.” The report added: “New primary provision will need a catchment area. This will be considered after consultation with schools and interested parties, with the intention children attending the new primary provision on the housing development would live within walking distance.”

Resources for pupils with social and communication difficulties will be made a priority, with the report accepting it is already limited in Aldershot, and could become more stretched once the AUE is fully-functional.

This will be addressed during the first phase of the primary provision in 2015.

According to the report, there would be no difference in cost for the two options, though if other realistic options were suggested over the next few months of consultation, these would be considered alongside those discussed at council.

A detailed consultation document will be prepared and made available ahead of talks with parents, staff and governors at local schools, where ‘proposals for viable alternative options’ will be heard.

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With the county elections only months away we the citizens of Rushmore need to ask the questions and demand answers. 3850 houses will produce an added population including children of 15,400, as half of this population will be children (7700) why have only 630 school places been planned for??????????????? With the area's medical services already over stretched why are there no pllans to build a new hospital??????????????????????? If the truth be known these plans have been put together using old population data ( pre last census) that are 10 years old and have not taken into concideration the influx of Nepalese that have come into the borough. Even if the latest census figures are used they will be flawed as many of the Nepalese did not fill in the forms plus the fact that the Nepalese population in our area has been grossly under-estimated. It is time to put all the political parties on warning. they may be called county elections but it is for the good of our borough we will be voting for. Get it wrong and you will feel our wrath at the council elections

UKR
31/12/2012 at 11:17

no they are not going to build a new hospital, this is the reason why the health centre on top of the hill was built in first place to replace health centre in aldershot and the cambridge military hospital.

and yet is not coping with the amount of people living in the area now, so whats going to happern with all these homes built ?.

PJA
27/12/2012 at 17:22

@ bluesy Are they going to build s new hospital because our local hospitals cannot cope now A very good point 3,850 homes gives us a population including children of 15,400, common sence tells me a new hospital on the Cambridge Hospital site is needed

UKR
25/12/2012 at 01:53

Are they going to build s new hospital because our local hospitals cannot cope now

bluesy
24/12/2012 at 22:26

It is not Connaughts capascity but its location, there is no direct bus route from the proposed Queens Avenue developement, journies by car would either be via Aldershot town or North Lane adding to the congestion

UKR
24/12/2012 at 15:10

Is Connaught overcrowded ? 2012 student figures show it to have the smallest figures of the Rushmoor schools and half that of All Hallows. I realize the school itself may be quite small, but in terms of pupil numbers its down on the previous two years.

SpongeBob NoPants, Farnborough
21/12/2012 at 15:26

I believe that education comes under the county council so with the county elections next year we should demand some answers to clarify the situation

UKR
21/12/2012 at 13:12

Isn't there already an on-going Project Wellesley locally which sees the move of the Army from Deepcut to Worthy Down? Confusion for locals or what?

scrooge
21/12/2012 at 11:35

I wasn't on about adding primary school to Connaught school, I just added that Aldershot should have another secondary school and put back what we once had more than 1 secondary school that is overcrowded and will be more over crowded than it is now when these houses are going to be built in Aldershot.

With all these people moving in to our area over the past few years with older children have all gone to Connaught school - where my grandchildren are - and this school cannot cope FACT!! all these children cannot all be put into Connaught school we defiantly need another secondary school as well as a primary school in where the housing is going?.

PJA
21/12/2012 at 11:21

It seems odd to propose to add a new primary school to The Connaught School, which is between 2 and 3 miles away from the Project Wellesley site, when the developers could include it on the site.

Also, there are already primary schools in that part of Aldershot that could expand to take more pupils - the new Wellington Primary School (formed by the merger fo Beaumont Junior and West End Infants) and Talavera.

Perhaps the Hampshire planners could visit Aldershot, look at the geography of the town and then comne forward with a new proposal?

Cllr. Alex Crawford, Aldershot
20/12/2012 at 21:12

PJA, it would seem that the Geographical pedantics continue. There are three schools serving Aldershot even if two are actually under Surrey authority. All three schools are closer to the centre of Aldershot than the three in Farnborough are to the Farnborough town centre, I find this a mystifying argument. You must also be aware of the larger population in Farnborough. As for working out which school to expand here, I don't know, but I think that common sense would suggest that the walk down the queens avenue would make some sort of sense, but I don't think any traffic chaos would happen at Connaught as most secondary pupils walk,cycle or get the bus.

SpongeBob NoPants, Farnborough
20/12/2012 at 15:30

It is not a question of Aldershot / Farnborough it is a question of logistics. As for not paying bus fares I used to have a long walk to secondary school rain or shine, money was very tight and we did not have a car

UKR
20/12/2012 at 14:43

If Rushmoor borough council hadn't of pulled down Manor Park school they would of had plenty of room to expand.

I wouldn't expect my grand children to pay for bus service to go to school, especially when money is short at moment.

Aldershot needs another secondary school, Farnborough has a few but Aldershot only has one!!

PJA
20/12/2012 at 13:44

Connaught school is placed within a housing estate any expantion of that school would cause traffic chaos on the estate and add to the conjestion in Aldershot, a far better school for expantion would be Wavell in Farnborough with a new entrance off of Queens Avenue, this would mean that travel from the new developement to the school would have no dire effects on local roads. There is also an excellent direct bus service between Aldershot and Farnborough every 10 minuites. This to my mind would formulate a better travel plan than expanding Connaught