Multi million pound replacement school proposed for St Silas Primary

The Council has announced plans to build a brand new, multi million pound school for St Silas CE Primary as part of the government's primary capital programme.

The proposal to build a new school to replace the existing Victorian building on Clematis Street, Blackburn, is recommended for approval when it goes before the Executive Board on Thursday, February 11.

If it gets the go ahead, it will be one of two major projects to be funded through the first phase of the primary capital programme, which aims to transform primary schools across the country and bring them up to 21st century standards over the next 15 years.

The second scheme is a new school building for Wensley Fold Primary School in order to meet demand for extra primary school places as a result of a predicted population growth over the next few years.

If the St Silas proposal is approved, work to develop and design the replacement school would start almost straight away and it is hoped the new school would open in September 2012.

Gladys Rhodes OBE, strategic director of children's services, said: "Wensley Fold and St Silas share equal priority for funding and, for very different reasons, there is a real urgency to complete both schemes as soon as possible.

"We have recognised for some time that St Silas School needed to be replaced and although staff and pupils have coped admirably in the existing building, we are delighted to be in a position now to offer them a new, state of the art school."

Mrs Hilary Healey, headteacher at St Silas, said: "We are really pleased and excited the proposal to rebuild St Silas School is going to the Executive Board. The children, staff, parents and governors are delighted that they will have a wonderful new building."

Additional information

• Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council has been allocated £8.7m primary capital funding (PCP) for 2008-11. During the first year of funding, some of the investment was spent on a number of smaller schemes, including remodelling at Meadowhead Infants, refurbishment and extension at Shadsworth Juniors and a small extension and remodelling at St James CE school in Darwen.
• The cost of replacing St Silas School is not yet known. Currently, £3.5m has been allocated from the PCP budget to rebuild St Silas School. PCP funding for future years beyond 2011 has not yet been confirmed, but the Council has committed to providing capital funding of up to £3.1m to guarantee that the project will be completed in the event of PCP funding not continuing beyond 2011.
• By 2011, an additional 30 children per year group are expected to need a school place in the Corporation Park and Wensley Fold wards. Across the borough generally, there is enough school capacity to accommodate the larger pupil number entering our schools, but in Wensley Fold we need to create extra capacity and Wensley Fold School is the only one in the area which has a site large enough to support an increase in capacity.
• The Wensley Fold proposal is to increase capacity at the school by changing it from a single-form entry to two-form entry. This would be gradually phased in over a number of years, rather than having an immediate rapid expansion, to allow the school time to develop new teaching and learning structures while maintaining the current, outstanding provision. The proposals are currently at the consultation stage, which will run until February 14. After this, the Council will decide whether to proceed to the next stage of the statutory process and publish statutory proposals for the enlargement of the school. A final decision would be expected at the Executive Board meeting in April.