Two Gosforth schools are set for significant expansions in order to cope with an escalating demand for places in Newcastle.
Temporary classrooms will have to be built at Gosforth Central Middle School (GCMS) this summer to ensure it has enough space for all of its pupils come the start of the new term in September, while city planners are mulling over a permanent expansion of the site. Meanwhile, Gosforth Park First School will substantially up its intake from 2023 once it takes over the former Broadway East First School site after the latter moved to a new base on the Newcastle Great Park estate.
There have been warnings for years that Newcastle is going to need thousands of extra school places by 2030 to deal with the demand caused by new housing estates being built on the northern and western edges of the city. Estimates in 2019 predicated that education chiefs would need to create 4,500 school places across all age ranges in the following decade.
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Two new secondary schools, Callerton Academy and the Great Park Academy, had to open on temporary facilities last year to begin to close that gap while their permanent homes are being built, while urgent classroom extensions also had to be built around the city in 2020.
A new Newcastle City Council report warns that the demand for school places “has been growing rapidly and will continue to do so, especially in the secondary sector and in parts of the city where there are large-scale housing developments, such as Newcastle Great Park”. It outlines plans for temporary classrooms to be built at GCMS this summer, including installing ICT provisions and electricity supplies, to ensure it has sufficient capacity come September, having not had enough places to cater for pupils from its feeder schools in 2020.
Two stopgap classrooms will be built, each offering space for up to 32 pupils. The council said that a “permanent solution, through expansion, is required”, but planning permission has not yet been granted for a new six-classroom block at the Great North Road school.
The city council has also confirmed plans for Gosforth Park First School to increase its capacity from 225 to 300 pupils, not including its 26-place nursery. Its reception intake will jump from 45 to 60 in September 2023, with a new two-form entry possible once the old Broadway East First School is refurbished.
Broadway East became Havannah First School in April this year when it relocated to the Newcastle Great Park. A local authority report reveals that 94% of people, including parents and school staff, who took part in a consultation about expanding Gosforth Park First School agreed with the plans, with concerns having previously been raised by some residents over a potential loss in places in that part of Gosforth caused by the Broadway East relocation.
Coun Sylvia Copley, the council's cabinet member for education, said: “We want to give all children and young people in Newcastle the best start in life and that is why we work closely with school leaders to plan for the future. New schools for secondary-aged pupils are being built in the north of the city as planned, in partnership with the Department for Education and one of the multi-academy trusts that operate in Newcastle, as we progress with increasing the number of school places available to ensure all children have the opportunity to succeed in life.
“We also continue to work with individual schools where expansion is the best and most cost-effective way of meeting forecast future needs. This is shown with plans published for Gosforth First School, which is to be expanded, and Gosforth Middle School, where two temporary classrooms are being prepared for the start of the school year in September, increasing capacity by 64 spaces.”
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