More than three-quarters (76.6%) of people who responded to a West Sussex County Council consultation said they support proposed changes to the age children transfer to secondary school in the town.
The consultation, which was carried out at the end of last year, asked people if they were in favour of a proposed change to the ‘Age of Transfer’, meaning children would start secondary school at the age of 11 instead of 12.
Almost the same amount of people (73.3%) also agreed with the principle of establishing ‘all-through’ primary schools for children aged 4-11 years wherever possible, instead of the current structure of first and middle schools.
The County Council has secured an investment package of around £30m to reorganise schools in the Worthing area and accommodate a growing number of pupils. This package is made up of a £20m Government grant and an investment of £10m from the County Council’s own resources.
Around £13m of this will be used to build a new 900-pupil secondary school following a large influx of children in the Worthing area. The academy school will be built on surplus land currently owned by Northbrook College in Broadwater and will be sponsored by the Durrington Multi Academy Trust, led by Durrington High School.
During the recent consultation people were also asked to comment on proposals for individual schools and a number of changes to the age range and/or size of four schools (Elm Grove First, Goring C of E First, Thomas A’Becket First and Thomas A’Becket Middle schools) have been made as a result of feedback.
The Cabinet Member for Children – Start of Life, Peter Evans, has now approved the publication of statutory notices, which will formally set out the changes and allow a further six-week period of public consultation.
Peter said: “The consultation was a very useful exercise as it not only showed there is a high level of support for these changes, but it also raised a number of important issues which needed careful consideration.
“Having listened thoroughly to all the views raised and in response I have decided to make some amendments to four of the original proposals, which will minimise travel distances for parents and add to the number of all-through primaries.”
Providing no further reasonable or significant objections are received during the statutory notice period, the proposals will be implemented from September 2015.
