Telford secondary school looking to add major extension
A new wing could be added at a school to deal with an expected increase in pupil numbers, under council plans.
Holy Trinity Academy, in Priorslee, currently has capacity for 900 students, but Telford and Wrekin Council is applying for extensions to handle an increase to 1,200.
A statement submitted on behalf of the authority’s education department notes that the town’s population is growing and Holy Trinity, which opened in 2015, is the only religious secondary school.
The plans also include replacing a grass football pitch with an artificial one and installing floodlights, putting up a fence around other sports pitches, adding additional cycle parking and extending the dining hall.
St Georges and Priorslee Parish Council will be consulted, and the borough council’s planning department will make its decision at a later date.
Blueprints show the proposed three-storey block would be located to the north of the Teece Drive school and house 10 general classrooms, four science labs, an IT suite and ground-floor changing rooms. The proposed dining hall extension would fill the gap currently caused by a narrowing between the two wings of the main building.
To the west of the site, a fence would be erected around the running track, football pitches and cricket pitch, while a floodlit “3G” pitch would replace the existing grass pitch on the east side.
Planning agent Nigel Hassell, of Sheffield-based Bond Bryan Architects, writes: “Due to an increasing in population in the Telford area it has been recognised that there will be a shortfall of pupil spaces within the borough.
“Engagement meetings were held with various schools to ascertain the additional requirements for each project. For Holy Trinity Academy, these meetings identified that, in order to avoid extensive remodelling of the existing school, a separate teaching block and changing facility would be required to accommodate an additional 300 pupils, 20 full-time staff and four part-time staff.
“Further, the existing school dining hall would require expansion to suit the increase in learning numbers.
“It was also noted that, whilst the school had access to the council-owned grass playing pitches to the west of the site, due to safeguarding issues, they were unable to utilise this with regularity.
“Providing a fence to these will allow an intensification through more formal usage of this space.”
Mr Hassell notes that the mixed-sex school places a “strong emphasis on faith”, and “attracts pupils from a wide area”. It is jointly administered by local Church of England and Roman Catholic dioceses.
