Consultation on the relocation of Jessie Younghusband Primary School, the expansion of St Anthony's School and proposed Catchment Area Changes

Summary of Proposals

Following the outcome of an informal public consultation, in March 2024 the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Learning and Skills approved the publication of formal statutory proposals for the relocation of Jessie Younghusband from its current location to the new primary school which is being built on the housing development west of Chichester, known as Minerva Heights (decision CYPLS02(24/25) opens in new window) refers,). The document and consultation summary appendix 1 can also be found in the documents section of this page. The relocation would enable the expansion of St Anthony’s School into the buildings vacated by Jessie Younghusband.

Publication of statutory proposals provides the opportunity for the public to submit new comments regarding the proposal during a time-limited representation period. Once the deadline for providing new representations has passed and any feedback received has been considered, the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Learning and Skills will be asked to determine whether the relocation of Jessie Younghusband Primary School and the associated catchment changes should proceed.

The Cabinet Member will also be asked to decide whether the publication of statutory proposals for the expansion of St Anthony’s School should commence.

Statutory Notices

The public consultation is a two-stage process, initially an informal consultation took place over a seven week period (14 December 2023 - 31 January 2024) At the end of this period, and following analysis of the comments received, the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Learning and Skills, Jacquie Russell, took the decision to publish statutory notices. We are now entering the formal statutory notice period which will run for a further four week period from 18 April 2024 - 16 May 2024. We anticipate the final decision to enable the changes to become to be taken in June 2024.

Full details of the statutory proposal can be found in the documents folder, a printed copy may also be obtained by emailing the address below.

Representations

If you would like to comment or make a representation in response to this consultation then please email the School Consultation team at schoolconsultations@westsussex.gov.uk

We will not be accepting representations made after midnight on the 16 May 2024.

Please be advised that comments cannot be a repeat of information or views already provided during the informal consultation that ran from 14 December 2023 to 31 January 2024.

Overview of consultation which closed on 31 January 2024.

Relocate Jessie Younghusband Primary School

It is proposed to relocate Jessie Younghusband from its current location to a new 1 Form of Entry (FE) Primary School (210 places) which is being built on the housing development West of Chichester, known as Minerva Heights.

Relocation will allow the phased admission of children from the local area (thereby serving the development) as children are admitted in the Reception year and the existing roll from a wider area moves on to secondary schools.

The new site is of sufficient size to accommodate an expansion to 2FE (420 places) should demand arising from the new development and wider planning area require expansion. The relocation therefore provides scope for expansion in the future of a successful primary school thereby providing greater financial sustainability.

The developers outline programme for the delivery of the new primary school on the Minerva Heights development is expected to reach completion and be available for occupation for the start of the academic year in September 2024.

Expansion of St Anthony’s School

It is proposed to expand St Anthony’s school by circa 50 places providing much needed additional places for children aged between 4 and 16.

Vacating the current Jessie Younghusband building allows for a relatively low-cost permanent expansion of St Anthony’s Special School and within a much shorter timeframe than an organic new build would take. Expansion of St Anthony’s into the existing Jessie Younghusband building also allows space for future development of St Anthony’s on site if required in the longer term.

Revise the catchment areas for schools closest to the development.

We are proposing to make the following amendments to

Parklands Community Primary School the catchment area will now finish along the boundary line of Centurion Way, bordering the Minerva heights development, the area to the right will remain unchanged,

Jessie Younghusband Primary School is proposed to retain its existing catchment area and now include the whole of the Minerva Heights development,

Fishbourne C of E Primary School is proposed to remain predominately unchanged with the top boundary now going around the Minerva Heights development.

Alternate formats and accessibility

If you require any of this information in an alternative format, then please contact us by phone 0330 222 3048 or via email at schoolconsultations@westsussex.gov.uk and we will assist you. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and have an NGT texting app installed on your computer, laptop or smartphone, you can contact us on 18001 0330 222 3048

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