Minutes of Parents’ and Public Meeting to consult on extending the upper age range of Heatherlands First School from 4-7 to 4-11 so that the school changes from a first school to a primary school with effect from September 2013

Held at 7pm on Thursday 6 October 2011 at Heatherlands First School.

Present:

67members of the public including:

  • Mrs S Burns, Headteacher, Mr J Churchill, Deputy Headteacher, and Governors, teachers and parents of Heatherlands First School
  • Headteachers of other local schools - Mr S Fox (Branksome Heath Middle School)
  • Councillor Marion Le Poidevin
  • Local residents

Borough of Poole officerspresent:

  • Anne Newton, Director of Children’s Services (AN)
  • Stuart Twiss, Chief Adviser for Schools, Head of Service, Strategy, Quality & Improvement, Children & Young People’s Services (ST)
  • Vicky Wales, Head of Service, Integrated Services, Children & Young People’s Services (VW)
  • Nicola Keynes, Principal Asset Planning and Development Manager (NK)
  • Julie Gale, Strategy Manager, Admissions, Exclusions & Awards (JG)
  • Laura Cook, Communications Officer (LC)
  • Rachel Folley, Place Planning and School Organisation Officer (RF)

Anne Newton (AN) welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced representatives from the school and Borough of Poole.

AN explained that the purpose of the meeting was to consult parents and other interested parties on the proposal for Heatherlands First School to become a primary school from September 2013.

AN introduced Stuart Twiss (ST), who gave a presentation setting out the reasons for the proposal, the three options put forward and the process and timescales for decision making.

ST handed over to Sally Burns (SB) who gave a presentation on how the school will respond to the proposal and their vision for becoming a primary school. SB also referred tothe video that had been shown when people first entered the hall for the meeting, of Heatherlands pupils working on their ideas for the proposed new building.

AN invited open questions.

Question 1:Do you have priority to stay on at Heatherlands if you are already at the school, even if you live outside the catchment area?

Answer 1(JG): You would not need to apply for a place, children already at Heatherlands would continue at the school.

Question 2:If the building goes ahead, where will the access be for the construction vehicles?

Answer 2(SB): Access will be through the main school gates and they will use the current school staff car park. There will be a fulltime flag man and vehicles will travel to and from the school at quieter times, not rush hours.

Question 3: In a built up area, how do you see the roads being affected when the school is considerably larger?

Answer 3 (SB):We continue to develop our school Travel Plan and work with parents, including the ‘Bike It’ project and ‘walk to school’ projects. There could be a reduction in traffic as parents will have fewer journeys to take siblings to another school. There are also plans being discussed for ‘Park & Stride’ from Branksome Recreation car park – parents would park there and walk to school with their children using the existing entrance on Recreation Road.

Question 4: With the side entrance on Recreation Road already busy and traffic backed up to Albert Road, will it get worse? I am happy for the school to be increased but concerned about traffic.

Answer 4 (SB): A governor is consulting at the moment on the possibility of a walking bus.

NK: There’s a chance to make your views known through the planning process too which is a separate consultation. We’re working closely with transportation. The school has a tight catchment area; the school will continue to work closely with parents to be considerate to residents.

ST checked that residents at the meeting had received letters from the Planning Department about the planning application. They confirmed they had.

Comment from floor: Argyll Road is also a problem.It’s not a one way system totally. Parents will still want to drive their children in bad weather.

Question 5: Could the bungalow be knocked down and access opened up?

Answer 5(ST): This is something you could include in a response to Planning about the scheme.

NK: There could be difficulties in keeping the site safe if a route through the school was created.

Comment from floor: As a resident of Library Road, my children went to this school and it has my full support, but on a wet morning the traffic is chaos.

Response (AN):These problems are not unique to Heatherlands. Unfortunately this is inevitable as schools grow and there is a greater tendency for people to walk less.

Comment from floor:I lived near a hospital where we had the same problems. A residents’ parking scheme was introduced which worked well.

Question 6: Particular attention is needed for the back entrance on Recreation Road. There is no signage or a crossing. Children use the speed hump as a crossing. There is only room for a single line of traffic and drivers reverse at speed when they realise they can’t get out. There’s a safety problem for children.

Answer 6 (AN): The safety of children must be paramount. We have noted the concerns on traffic, parking, traffic blockages & safety.

Question 7: Rubbish. It will double.

Answer 7(AN): It’s about behaviours and we need to educate people.

Comment from floor: I do not see a problem with litter around the school.

AN:There’s a potential issue. We’ve got to think about it. Creating a nice environment is part of the work of the school.

SB:It’s about respecting the school and the surrounding area.

Comment from floor:Which the school does already.

Question 8:The playground area is being built on. How will there still be enough for the increased number of children?

Answer 8 (SB):We will make better use of the space we have. The area that is currently roped off to stop children playing in the bushes will be resurfaced and utilised. The nature trail will remain and we will also have an all-weather games area. Play times will be time tabled.

Question 9: What will the big space at the back of the playing field be used for? Could it be for parking?

Answer 9 (SB):It will still be used for playing. It was considered for a car park but rejected because of traffic.

NK:This has been looked at by Transportation services but Cecil Road is too narrow for the amount of traffic.

Question 10: Does that mean there will only be one entrance?

Answer 10 (NK):There will be one vehicular entrance for staff & deliveries. There will be three pedestrian entrances.

Question 11:Will the existing buildings stay the same or be refurbished?

Answer 11 (SB):There will be some refurbishment of the existing school including a new studio and repositioning of the Reception classes to be more open plan.

Comment from floor: Does that mean noisy?

SB:No. They will be linked roomsand be able to share facilities, they will not be completely open plan.

Question 13:How long will the construction time be from start to finish, with trucks in & out all the time?

Answer 13 (SB):It will be a modular build with most of the work done off-site. Most work would be undertaken in the 6 weeks summer holidays and the remaining work in term time will mostly be fittings.

Question 14:Will there be dumper trucks for pouring concrete?

Comment from floor: You need to consider the long term benefits for children.

NK: We will insist the contractor is part of the ‘considerate contractor’ scheme. We’ll make best use of the summer holiday time & best use of off-site construction. The foundations may not involve pouring concrete.

Question 15:With the different ages at the school, will there be playground supervision for working parents to drop off older children?

Answer 15 (SB):This will be something for the Governing Body to consider.

Question 16:Will all year groups start at the same time?

Answer 16 (ST):This will be for the governing body to decide, if it is of benefit to the children.

Comment from floor:It’s going to be fantastic.

Comment from floor: Parkstone is a built up, busy area. You know that when you move here. We want children to be educated and not on the streets.

Comment from floor: There will be disruption but not for long and the advantages to children are tremendous.

Comment from floor: There is going to be a camera car, looking at people parking irresponsibly.

Question 17: I’m saddened to see Heatherlands grow. My children had a fantastic time here and at Branksome Heath. What other schools offer these attributes?

Answer 17 (ST):Sylvan has many of the same characteristics. Sally Burns and Sarah Lee (Head Teacher at Sylvan First School) have worked closely together in developing primary phase provision for the local area. At Sylvan we have seen their vision come alive with their new Reception classrooms and with parents, staff and the children. We know some parents prefer a First School & Middle School.

Comment: But the other choice was it wasn’t a big school. The safety of children here is unprecedented.

ST:The proposed buildings will increase safety.

Comment: I do support the proposals for the school, it’s just an observation.

Question 18:How will expansion affect standards of education?

Answer 18(SB):We are aiming for our next Ofsted to be Outstanding. We continue to monitor and track progress to raise standards year on year.

Question 19:Will the new environment help to achieve this?

Answer 19 (SB):There will be lots of new facilities including the new studio and ICT equipment.

Question 20:Will youngerchildren benefit by having the chance to use facilities at a younger age?

Answer 20 (SB):Yes.

Question 21:Cedars is for sale. What will be the timescale for development of that if it goes ahead? It will be chaos if both developments happen at the same time.

Answer 21 (ST): This would be a matter to be taken up with Planning rather than through this consultation process which is about school organisation. You could look up the Cedars planning application on the Borough of Poole website for more information, or you can refer to Cedars in a response to Planning about the Heatherlands application and make your concerns clear.

Comment from floor: On behalf of school staff I’d like to say that we fully support this, it’s so exciting, we arecompletely behind what we’re doing.

Comment from floor: I’d echo this on behalf of the governors.

AN thanked people for attending and their contributions.

AN reminded people they could look at the plans & talk to any of the staff at the meeting, from Borough of Poole or the school.

Those who had not wanted to make a public comment could have their views recorded by Laura Cook and Rachel Folley following the meeting.

Meeting closed 8.15pm

Comments received after the meeting closed

Resident of Argyll Road:

The traffic problem will be really bad. It’s great for the school, great for mums. Something’s got to be done about the traffic. People park both sides. More children will mean more problems.

Suggested extending the Branksome Recreation Ground to make the parking area bigger & have a pedestrian crossing over Recreation Road to the gate, or make it a drop-off area with one-way traffic flow, one way in, one way out. The school could have someone there to walk the children up from there.

Resident of Library Road:

Supports the proposals for the school but some parents park inconsiderately across driveways, blocking neighbours in, and have a very rude attitude when asked to move. Questioned why Fixed Rate Penalties are not issued to parents parking on the double yellow lines.

Resident of Recreation Road:

Concerned that fencing along bottom of playing field adjacent to gardens of properties on Recreation Road does not appear on plans displayed. Would like fencing to be reinstated to prevent damage to private fences caused by footballs from older children.

Comment:

Suggested extending the car park at Branksome Recreation Ground to where the building is, with additional marked bays.

Comment:

Supports the school proposal. Would like it noted that there are proposals underway for double yellow lines in Library Road, Leyton Road and Davis Road.

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