Reading primary school expansion programme #rdguk

I got the following letter from the Council about expanding primary schools in Reading:

"Dear Councillor,

READING PRIMARY SCHOOL EXPANSION PROGRAMME

In common with many other urban areas in the country, Reading is experiencing an increased demand for Primary School places, due to rising birthrates, and people moving into Reading. Many of our Primary Schools are either at capacity or approaching capacity, and in order to provide sufficient school places the Borough Council is proposing to expand the schools listed below.

As part of the proposed expansion programme the Borough Council is required to formally consult on the expansion proposals for each school.

• Alfred Sutton Primary School
• Churchend School
• E P Collier Primary School
• Geoffrey Field Infant School
• New Town Primary School
• Southcote Primary School
• St. Martin’s Catholic Primary School
• St. Michael’s Primary School
• The Ridgeway Primary School

But before we go ahead with this, we want to give local people an opportunity to tell us what they think about the proposals. This is a statutory consultation under the School Organization (Prescribed Alterations to Maintained Schools (England) Regulations 2007.

The Council has already used the flexibility in the Schools Admission code to temporarily increase the admission numbers in some schools for the 2013/14 intake. The current capacities for the schools are listed below along with what they are proposed to increase to and how long it will take to get to this new capacity.

SCHOOL	Current capacity	New capacity by Sept 2015
Alfred Sutton Primary School	450	630
Churchend School	210	420
E P Collier Primary School	210	420
Geoffrey Field Infant School	210	270
New Town Primary School	210	420
Southcote Primary School	420	630
St Martin’s Primary School	168	210
St Michael’s Primary School	240	420
The Ridgeway Primary School	210	630

The consultation will take place over a period of 4 weeks from Friday 21 June until Friday 19 July 2013, and is primarily directed at School Communities, Diocesan Authorities, Trades Unions, Ward Councillors, and Local MPs. Details appear on the Council Consultation website at www.reading.gov.uk/schoolexpansion.

Please contact me if you want further information in respect of the consultation.

Yours sincerely”