Penn School item for Village Voice Jan 2017

Penn School – ongoing behind-the-scenes work

We are in a period of hiatus about the future use of the Penn School site, while the three bids for free schools on the site are considered by the Regional Schools Commissioner and the Department for Education (DfE). Outcomes from these assessments should be known by the end of March.

However, the P&TGRS Penn School Working Group has nevertheless been active behind the scenes, as we continue to seek as much background information as possible and build relationships with key decision-makers.

We remain convinced that, while a small special school, or similar, would be a highly suitable use for the site, an upper school of 1000-1200 pupils would bring such pressure to the site and surrounding infrastructure, it would be unmanageable in terms of transport and village life.

Our meeting with the Regional Commissioner of Schools (RSC) for this area, who has responsibility for advising on free school applications, went very well. He was open about how applications are assessed and responsive to the information we shared.

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) held a pre-application planning meeting with Wycombe District Council, but are doing no further work until outcomes of the free schools applications process are known.

Both MPs have met with either P&TGRS representatives, or Penn Parish Council members and, in consequence, have written to members of the Govt and/ or Bucks County Council. Our county councillors are also fully briefed.

In addition, working group members are meeting Bucks County Council officers/ members to discuss secondary school place planning and special needs provision.

One priority is to ensure that the highways congestion issues, which we foresee if a large school is put on the site, are fully understood and articulated. To that end, we are hoping to have substantive meetings with County’s Highways representatives

If you have any comments or questions you would like to raise with the Working Group, please feel free to contact Jane Creasy 01494 816818,