New school still planned for Groves site – but existing school building could be left empty for years

It has been revealed the former Groves site could eventually house a new school if funding is agreed – however we have been told there are no plans to use the recently listed Groves school building for that purpose, with it’s future up for ‘debate’.

The detail has been revealed after Wrexham Council unveiled their funding bid through the 21st Century Schools and Education Programme, a partnership between Welsh Government and local authorities such as Wrexham Council. The bid details what match funding Wrexham Council are looking for from Welsh Government, with information on what projects any money would be spent on.

Wrexham Council’s Lead Member for Education, Phil Wynn, has told us that the old Groves school building itself is not in the Council’s plan for educational use at the moment despite still looking to place a school on the Groves site.

While taking questions over the Council’s Strategic Outline Programme (SOP) and an associated bid for £36m to Welsh Government for part funding of local education projects Councillor Wynn commented on the future of the Groves site. Last month we reported how we understood the SOP bid did not contain a request for funding for the Groves, however it appears the bid does include a Groves based project, but not involving the listed building itself.

Prior to the documents being made public we asked Councillor Wynn if the Groves School was included as a stated project in the bid.

“There is a school within the document, that we need to provide in the town centre. The aspiration is to deliver a new school, at least, on the Groves site.”

“As regards to the structure still there that has been listed, that is still open to debate.”

We asked if ‘open to debate’ meant the listing could be challenged yet again.

Councillor Wynn said: “The report does not clearly state that we wish to use the Groves structure for educational use at this moment in time.”

“We do need to use the site as obviously land availability in the town centre is scarce, and getting scarcer.”

“It is a valuable pocket of land that is within our ownership, which we do have aspirations to use to accommodate a new school.”

The SOP bid is a second tranche of money from Welsh Government, known as ‘Band B’, and includes eight specific projects that will look to improve existing buildings, or create new educational infrastructure and buildings – detailed below.

Council Leader Mark Pritchard was confident the Welsh Government would see the Council’s bid in a favourable light, pointing out the track record of Wrexham Council in delivery, contrasting it to other unnamed local authorities saying ‘we have an advantage’.

The details of the bid have now been made public, with the Groves mentioned once in the document before Councillors ahead of next week’s Executive Board meeting.

The document gives a state of play summary based off a previous ‘Band A’ funding tranche of £22.3 million, including the following delivered planned projects as noted by the Council Leader. Due to efficient working and savings made additional schemes were also possible:

• Gwenfro – New build 315 school – £5 million – Completed
• Hafod Y Wern – New build 315 school – £5 million – Completed
• Penycae – Extension and refurb – £3 million – On site completion Oct 2017
• Gwersyllt CP – Extension and refurb – £3 million – BJC submitted
• Plas Coch – Extension – £1 million – Completed
• Alexandra – Extension – £1 million – Completed
• Ysgol Bryn Alyn – Demolition, New build & Refurb – £2 million – On Site completion Oct 2017
• Ysgol Morgan Llwyd – 6th form provision – £1.3 million – BJC submitted

The document goes on to list the projects that are hoped to be funded in the new tranche of ‘Band B’ funding with the aim of “Efficient and effective educational infrastructure that will meet current and future demand for places by 2024”.

If the bid is given the go ahead by Welsh Government, Wrexham could see a new Welsh medium primary school accommodating 105 pupils on the former Hafod y Wern infant site with the first intake in 2019. That would be a prelude to a move to the Borras Park site where a larger school would be accommodated.

Wrexham Council say: “We believe that Band B offers the opportunity to invest in co locating the remaining amalgamated English medium schools, invest in ensuring the most effective and efficient use of Secondary school estate across all sectors, not only addressing surplus places within English medium but ensuring sufficiency of places in the Welsh medium and faith sectors. This funding will also give further opportunity to continue to expand the number of Welsh medium and faith places available in Wrexham.”

The project priorities are stated by Wrexham Council as below in the plan, split into three faith projects and five local authority projects:

• Borras Following the amalgamation of the previous infants and juniors in 2016 this would bring the school together in one building. The school would maintain its 420 capacity with 60 nursery places. This project would free up a full school building on a separate site which can be utilised by the Education Department to meet the growth in Welsh medium provision, in what is an ideal geographic location.
• Welsh Medium – Borras Infant Site By Undertaking project 1 Borras physical amalgamation we can utilise the former Infant site to accommodate a 210 primary with 30 nursery places. The current building is structurally sound, however would require refurbishment and minor alterations.
• Secondary Provision Review The aim is for the School Organisation Review Panel (SORP) to undertake a full review of Secondary provision throughout Wrexham during the 2017 academic year, in order that we further consider how best we utilise surplus provision at a number of our English medium schools and address the growing demand for Welsh medium….it is likely that this full review will highlight the need to make some substantial changes to several locations across the county and in doing so undertake some ‘site swaps’. This funding is vital in the development of sufficient Welsh medium secondary places and effective use of current Secondary English medium stock. This project would likely be subject to full public consultation.
• Ysgol Yr Hafod Following the amalgamation of the previous infants and juniors in 2016 this would bring the school together in one building on the same site. The two current sites are separated by approximately 800m. The school would maintain a 315 capacity with a 45 place nursery. This project would free up a full school on a separate site which can be further utilised by the Education Department.
• Ysgol ID Hooson In order to meet demand for Welsh medium Ysgol ID Hooson has managed its numbers using two mobile classrooms on site. As with the Plas Coch development in Band A we propose to replace the temporary buildings with a fit for purpose classroom extension, whilst ensuring that the non-teaching spaces are also sufficient to meet the needs of a 315 school with 45 nursery places.
• St Mary’s RC Wrexham This project involves the site relocation and building of a 420 Primary with 60 nursery places. The current site is landlocked within the town centre and is a 210 school site that accommodates over 420 pupils, half of which are currently based in mobile temporary classrooms placed on what limited outdoor space the school has. This scheme would be subject to consultation and locating a feasible site. This project would free a site for a 210 school in an area where there is great demand and oversubscription.
• St Mary’s Brymbo This project involves the site relocation and building of what is currently a 154 Primary with 22 nursery places. The proposal is to build a 315 school with 45 nursery places at a site already identified in Brymbo. This would not only replace what is a condition D Building with a 21st Century school but would expand the capacity to accommodate a growing demand in that area of the county. This development would also assist in further addressing the oversubscription within the town centre, as historically due to location, pupils from the new housing developments drifted to the town centre schools. The intention is to introduce additional capacity and realign that drift.
• New VA School If the initial two faith projects were to proceed, there is the possibility to re purpose the St Mary’s RC site. This could accommodate further faith provision in the town centre where demand is highest. This would involve clearing the site of temporary buildings and refurbishment into a 210 provision with a 30 entry nursery.

Councillor Wynn said the bid was ‘in the laps of the Welsh Government’ and expected conversations to start promptly to get the ball rolling on possible green lighting of specific projects.

There is no detail to what form the ‘debate’ will take over the future of the Groves school building itself.