Evergreen school project ‘will meet demands of future housing’
A NEW 1,000 pupil secondary school in Great Harwood will provide greater educational choice and help meet future housing needs, trustees have claimed.
The Observer reported in May how plans are being drawn up for The Evergreen School, which aims to open by September 2018.
The dedicated group behind the project has now held public meetings around the town to reveal more details about the school and to enlist residents’ support.
Sonia Edwards, a teacher and trustee, told a meeting at Bank Mill House that 200 to 250 new homes have been approved in the area which are going to increase the demand on public services such as schools.
She said: “The council have already admitted that there might be a schools shortage of places by 2020. If we open by 2018 then we will have started, grown, got your trust and by 2020 we will be established and ready and have places for those extra people.
“There’s also a lack of educational choice at the moment. There is an outstanding rating school in Hyndburn but it is faith-based and doesn’t provide opportunities for everybody. You haven’t got that choice at the minute.”
Sonia told the meeting that across east Lancashire there is on average one secondary school for every 10,000 residents. However there are over 11,000 residents in Great Harwood with no secondary school.
The meeting was told how 125 pupils per academic year group are ‘bused out’ of the town every day at an annual cost of £540 each.
The school is expected to cost between £10m and £15m to set up, with a budget of £75m over the next ten years. The money will be provided from a special pot allocated by central government as part of the New Schools Network’s development programme.
No decision has yet been made on its location.
Sonia said: “It’s the question everyone keeps asking and, to be honest, we don’t know yet.
“Maybe for the first year we won’t have a full cohort of year groups so maybe we will start somewhere small using existing premises while the others are being built perhaps. If we do have a new-build we would prefer it to be on a brownfield site. We have to consider proximity to housing and how it will affect the community, traffic congestion and parking needs.”
Sonia said the school will give priority to families living in Great Harwood, with remaining places being filled by ‘geographical range’.
Trustees said the school will provide GCSEs in English, maths, science, humanities and a language, with an emphasis on ‘projectbased learning’.