Parents in Rushcliffe may have better options to send their children to a local school soon if a planned initiative goes ahead.
Conservative MP Ruth Edwards is working with Nottinghamshire County Council to expand the number of school places available in Rushcliffe.
Rushcliffe Spencer Academy has submitted a proposal to the Department for Education to expand the number of places they can provide. This will include 12 forms of entry, taking the total number of pupil places across all years to 2,310 including Sixth Form.
Mrs Edwards is supporting Rushcliffe Spencer Academy's application and this week secured a meeting with Nadhim Zahawi the Secretary of State for Education to highlight the importance of this application and how vital this was for local families. She then met with the Minister for the School System, Baroness Barran to discuss the issue in more detail.
Commenting, Mrs Edwards said: “Getting a local school place is a hugely important issue for local children and their parents, and is a top priority for me as the Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe. I left Secretary of State for Education in no doubt of the importance of this issue and pressed him hard to ensure that an early decision would be made in this case. I am grateful to him and to Baroness Barran for taking the time to meet with me.
"I would like to thank Rushcliffe Spencer School for their hard work in improving local school place provision and our County Councillors Reg Adair and Matthew Barney for all their hard work on this issue.
Damian Painton, Principal of Rushcliffe Spencer Academy said: “I’m delighted that plans to develop the Rushcliffe Spencer Academy site are progressing well with support from colleagues at Nottinghamshire County Council and Ruth Edwards MP making the case in Parliament. Primarily, this project will create much needed school places in the Rushcliffe area but it will also ensure that pupils and community groups can benefit from access to outstanding facilities.”
Vacant parts of a former West Bridgford leisure centre will be knocked down under council plans to allow for the expansion of a nearby school.
Nottinghamshire County Council is due to approve the demolition of parts of Rushcliffe Leisure Centre next week, allowing the expansion plans of Rushcliffe Spencer Academy to move forward.
The site, on Boundary Road, has been part-vacant, part-used since its closure in 2017, with most of the facilities moving to the upgraded Rushcliffe Arena site.
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