'No new secondary school needed in Shrewsbury' - council

Despite earlier suggestions that a new primary school being built in Bowbrook could be expanded to an all-through school if required, the authority now says there is capacity elsewhere in the town to meet demand for the coming years.

It comes after Bowbrook councillor Alex Wagner last week called for a new secondary school to be built in Shrewsbury to address current pressures, which he said would only worsen as planned large-scale house building to the west of the town is delivered.

In a question to the council’s people overview committee on Wednesday, Councillor Wagner said: “Many parents in Shrewsbury feel that there are currently not enough places at local secondary schools for them to be given a real choice on where is best for their children.

“Though there are some spaces at Shrewsbury Academy and an expansion of classroom space at Meole is planned, unprecedented development in town – especially in areas further from the academy than the other three secondary schools – overshadows this.”

Councillor Wagner highlighted the fact that when the new school at Bowbrook was given the go-ahead, the council said the option of turning it into an all-through school was on the table.

He asked: “Would the council be able to provide local residents and the public with an update on the time-scale in which they expect to achieve this ambition of a new secondary school?

“If the council cannot give even a rough time-scale to the opening date, could they give an estimate to when we may see plans for the all-through school presented to council?”

Karen Bradshaw, the council’s director of children’s services, said there are “sufficient” spaces across the town’s four secondary schools to meet demand forecasts during the council’s current development plan period, which runs up to 2026.

Based on the council’s methodology, Ms Bradshaw said every 200 new homes only yield one class of secondary school-aged children.

She said: “Two of Shrewsbury’s secondary schools have over 800 pupils while the other two have over 1,200 pupils. This perhaps gives a sense of the number of houses that would need to be built and occupied to require an additional secondary or all-through school in the town and for that to be financially and educationally viable.

“Our preferred option for addressing any forecast requirement for additional secondary school places in the next plan period is likely to focus initially on further expansion of existing secondary schools.

“This makes much greater financial and economic sense, and would not have a negative impact on existing schools by drawing pupils away into a new school, potentially compromising their viability and creating expensive, unfilled school spaces in the short to medium term.”

Ms Bradshaw said officers would continue to monitor the situation, but that it was not anticipated any decisions around extra secondary school capacity would need to be taken until “the second half of this decade”.

When the council’s cabinet agreed in September 2019 to press ahead with the new primary school and SEND school in Bowbrook, members were assured that the site could cater for secondary places in future if required.

Councillor Ed Potter, who was portfolio holder for education at the time, said: “With the size of the land at the Bowbrook site there is the opportunity to potentially expand it to an all-through school.

“At this stage primary school is where the pressures are in the west of Shrewsbury.”

At Wednesday’s meeting Councillor Wagner also raised the issue of “misleading claims from large-scale developers on what schools buyers can go to”.

Two recent developments in Bowbrook – totalling 800 houses – recommend schools to potential new residents which have long since closed or have never existed, as well as fee-paying schools and one which is not even in the county.

Ms Bradshaw said that while the council had “no input” on how developers marketed their homes, she said the learning and skills team would make contact with those identified by Councillor Wagner to request they “correct any clear inaccuracies”.