Westmorland and Furness Council’s cabinet has agreed to proceed with the latest stage of a proposal to expand the existing school building of Beaconside Church of England Primary School in Penrith.
The cabinet has agreed to proceed to the next stage of the decision-making process regarding the resource provision places, and publish a statutory notice, with a four-week representation period. This will allow interested parties to submit any further views on the proposals.
Resource provision (RP) school places provide additional support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to make progress in their learning and take part in mainstream school life.
The expansion will facilitate an increase in school places over time, including 14 new key stage 2 resource provision places at the school, up from 10 to 24, meaning the school can accommodate more children with additional needs in a mainstream school setting. The expansion of the resource provision requires a formal statutory representation period – which will open from 5 February.
The expansion of the school, if approved, would be funded by Section 106 funding from housing developers originating from housing developments in Penrith over recent years – provided to ensure sufficient school places are available for growing communities as new housing is built.
In October last year, the council consulted on proposals to expand the Beaconside School building and facilitate an increase in the number of school places the school can provide over time, this latest approval represents the latest stage of the process.
Cllr Sue Sanderson, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Educations and Skills at Westmorland and Furness Council, said: “It is really important we take the opportunity to utilise the available funding to the benefit of children and young people in Penrith, and ensure that for years to come we have sufficient school places including resource provision.
“I’m really pleased the cabinet have approved the publication of a statutory notice on these proposals and set out their intention to proceed to the next stage of the process.”
In accordance with the statutory process, the notice will be published on the Council’s website on 5 February 2024. Interested parties will then be able to view the notice and the full statutory proposal and will have until 3 March 2024 to respond.