What this consultation is about
Mickley Infant and Nursery School currently provides education for children aged 3 to 7 years. The school was designed as an infant only site to accommodate 40 infant age pupils and a 20 place nursery. The nursery numbers are fluid dependent on the number of reception children already in school as the class is run as an early years foundation unit. The school also offers 30-hour funded places for those parents who can access this.
The core facilities (hall and dining) accommodate their existing pupils. There is no library or separate physical education facility. The expansion of the school would support the housing development in the locality with land potentially being available next to the school or at the rear of the school as it backs onto farmland.
In earlier consultation the school and local community have recognised and supported the need for the expansion of the age range to become a primary school and last year a petition in support of the expansion was forwarded to the Cabinet Member for Young People.
Currently most children attend Shirland Primary School for their junior provision. The estate where Mickley Infant and Nursery School is situated has poor public transport links and this is exacerbated by the fact that the bus that they currently use has been stopped in the evenings. Historically, the parents organised and funded this but it is no longer financially viable. As a result, parents are struggling to ensure that their children arrive and return from Shirland Primary School in time for the school day. As a response to this, Mickley Infant School has been forced to shorten its school day as parents could not be in 2 places at once.
There is a planning application for 120 dwellings, which would yield an additional 24 primary school aged children. Shirland Primary School is unable to expand any further and following the Department for Education Building Bulletin 103 guidance on accommodation requirements, Mickley Infant School has space to become a primary school with a pupil admission number of 10 and a capacity of 70.
The historic number of pupils and projections
| Year |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
| Number of pupils |
35 |
32 |
31 |
25 |
26 |
25 |
25 |
27 |
27 |
The planning area projections
| School |
Published admission number |
Capacity |
Number on register |
Projected year 1 |
Projected year 2 |
Projected year 3 |
Projected year 4 |
| Mickley Infant School |
20 |
40 |
25 |
26 |
25 |
27 |
27 |
| Shirland Primary School |
20 |
199 |
195 |
193 |
183 |
175 |
180 |
| Wessington Primary School |
20 |
70 |
74 |
72 |
68 |
71 |
78 |
Shirland Primary School and Wessington Primary school are both on restricted sites and unable to expand any further. There is currently a scheme to increase the capacity at Shirland Primary School which increases the pupil admission number to 30, funded primarily by funding from housing developers. However this will be the limit of expansion.
In order to enable Mickley Infant and Nursery School to progress into a Primary School with a pupil admission number of 10, the following accommodation would be required:
- 2 55 square metre key stage 2 classrooms
- 2 key stage 2 toilets
- staff room
- group room
Once the consultation is concluded, the outcome will be reported to Cabinet.
Cabinet approved the proposals on the 8 July 2021.