YEOVIL NEWS: Have your say on new primary schools for the town

A DROP-IN session will be held later this week for people wanting to find out more and give their views on plans to build two new primary schools in Yeovil in the coming years.

Somerset County Council is looking to build a school in the Wyndham Park/Primrose Hill area of Yeovil to accommodate 420 pupils and then at Lufton on the other side of town to serve 210 places.

Yeovil residents are now being offered the opportunity to feedback on two new primary schools for the town in a drop-in session on Thursday (January 22, 2015).

A four-hour drop-in session for Yeovil residents, and anyone else interested in these new schools, will be held between 3.30pm and 7.30pm at Westfield Academy’s Upper Hall in Stiby Road, Yeovil, where people will be able to find the latest information on the proposals, and share your views.

Over 97% of pupils in Somerset received a place at one of their preferred schools in September. In Yeovil, as with everywhere in Somerset, the County Council has a statutory responsibility to ensure that all children have a school place, however, it may not always be their preferred school.

However, meeting the demand for school places in Yeovil is a challenge and with around 2,100 new homes expected to be built in these areas, the new schools form the county council’s decisive response and have long-been in the pipeline.

Both primary schools will be academies and will be expected to open by September 1, 2016.

The Wyndham Park/Primrose Hill primary school’s first phase will provide seven classrooms, accommodating 210 places, along with a nursery with up to 24 full-time places.

The main hall and offices will be built in preparation for a 14-class school as pupil numbers rise further. In the long term the school will have places for 420 pupils.

Lufton’s primary will also be built to accommodate 210 school places across seven classrooms, with a view to then doubling the school’s capacity over time as the housing development progresses. The second floor, which will accommodate the school’s second phase of 7 classrooms, will be brought into use gradually depending on how rapidly the local population grows.

Housing developers have agreed to provide both sites, and the county council will procure the schools. No school transport will be provided as both schools will be accessible on foot or by bicycle.

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