TWO schools will close and 10 others be affected if a major review of primary education in Warrington is approved by Town Hall chiefs.
One – Sycamore Lane Primary at Great Sankey – would be rebuilt on a new site but the other, Longbarn Primary would be closed from August next year.
A third school, Woolston Primary, would be rebuilt on the same site but with a reduced capacity.
Of the other nine schools, two would have increased numbers of pupils but the remaining seven would all have reduced numbers.
The proposals will be put to the borough council’s executive board on Monday, March 9.
If the findings of the review are implemented, Warrington will be able to access £44 million from the Department for Children, Schools and Families over the next 14 years and will be able to modernise at least 45 per cent of the borough’s primary school estate.
This should transform the learning experience for many children from the most deprived areas of the borough.
Schools where pupil admissions will be reduced include Sycamore Lane and Woolston, which are to be rebuilt, but also Bruche, Meadowside, Broomfields Junior, The Cobbs Infants, Bewsey Lodge, St Margaret’s CE and Birchwood CE while the schools to increase admissions will be Ravenbank and Christ Church CE.
A number of schools will have no changes to admission numbers but have been identified as priorities for investment. They are Winwick CE, St Joseph’s RC, Great Sankey, Evelyn Street, Oakwood Avenue and Dallam primaries.
Overall, eight per cent of schools will be replaced or taken out of use and the number of surplus places will have been reduced from 13 per cent a year ago to about eight per cent.
School buildings in the worst condition – Great Sankey, Woolston, Evelyn Street, Bewsey Lodge, Sycamore Lane and The Cobbs – will have been replaced.
