Decision details

Jessie Younghusband Primary School is a Primary School providing up to 210 places for children aged 4-11 years.  The proposal is to relocate Jessie Younghusband from its current location to a new 1 Form of Entry (FE) Primary School (210 places) which is being built on the housing development west of Chichester, known as Minerva Heights.

St Anthony’s School in Chichester is a Special School for children and young people aged between 4 and 16 years with moderate learning difficulties. It currently shares a site with Jessie Younghusband. There is a need to expand St Anthony’s to ensure there are appropriate and sufficient places in accordance with the County Council’s Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Strategy 2019-2024. The relocation of Jessie Younghusband would leave a vacant building which could be used for the purposes of expanding St Anthony’s special school.

The creation of a new primary school is for the purpose of accommodating the additional children who will come to live in Minerva Heights which means it is also necessary to propose revisions to the catchment areas of other schools in the local area should the proposals proceed.

In December 2023 the Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Learning and Skills approved the launch of a public consultation, in accordance with Department for Education (DfE) guidance, to seek views on the proposed changes (decision CYPLS05(23/24) refers).  Details of the consultation process and the feedback received are set out in section 4 of this report. 

The DfE guidance sets out the stages of the process that should be undertaken when considering relocation of a school.  Having completed the first stage of the initial consultation, the Cabinet Member is now asked to consider the feedback received and approve the progression of the proposals to the next stage of the process.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, Learning and Skills has approved:

(1)        The publication of formal statutory proposals for the relocation of Jessie Younghusband Primary School to the primary school site within the Minerva Heights development.  The new school is expected to open in September 2025.

(2)        The intent to publish formal statutory proposals for the expansion of St Anthony’s school into the vacated buildings currently occupied by Jessie Younghusband Primary School, should the proposed relocation of Jessie Younghusband Primary School proceed.

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