Experts warn city over school plans
An influential group of education advisors have warned the city council against plans to expand a school in north Leeds, in an area which became the focus of a row over a “black hole” in classroom places.
AN INFLUENTIAL group of education advisors have warned Leeds City Council against plans to expand a school in north Leeds, in an area which became the focus of a row over a “black hole” in provision of enough classroom places.
Plans to expand Moor Allerton Hall Primary School by more than 200 places, which went before officers and education experts on the council’s school organisation advisory board, were branded “extremely risky”.
The plans would involve extending the school to a threeform entry school from September 2019.
This would increase the capacity from 420 pupils to 630 pupils over a number of years.
But some parents believe the school is underperforming – and is too far away from the areas that need school places, while others believe it could impact on the quality of life for people living in the area.
A previous plan to turn the school into an “all through” facility for both primary and secondary pupils was scrapped after objections from parents.
Darren Crawley, from the council’s school place planning team, said the authority was trying its best to make sure parents had enough places near to where they lived.
He added: “My view is having a school that is a mile, or a mile and a half away, is better than having a school that is two or three miles away.”
The meeting was told the plans were to “remodel” a nearby pub site in order to accommodate the extra pupils.
Quizzed by the panel on the school’s “challenging history”, council officer Tracy Ward said the authority was confident the school would get its ‘good’ rating back. Its most recent Ofsted inspection was in 2017, and said the school required improvement, the meeting heard.
Leeds headteacher Sally Bolton, also a board member, said it felt like a “phenomenally short amount of time” to create extra capacity by September 2019.
A council officer responded by saying temporary buildings would be put in place if needed.
The meeting also heard from parents and people living in the area. Saul Clayton lives in a lodge on the entrance road into the school. He said: “This will have a massive effect on us if it goes ahead. The school will completely spoil our enjoyment of the area. They are now proposing to extend the school boundary so we will be surrounded by a metal fence on three sides, which would be akin to living in a prison.”