To approve a new permanent building at John Kyrle High School & Sixth Form Centre to accommodate additional pupils admitted from September 2021 in response to rising numbers in Ross-on-Wye and to meet parental preference, and to agree the procurement approach to deliver the required works.

John Kyrle High School & Sixth Form Centre is rated Good with Outstanding features by Ofsted and has been consistently oversubscribed since 2009. In recent years additional permanent accommodation has been provided and funded by John Kyrle to enable additional children to attend.

Funding has been identified in the council’s capital programme, using basic need government grant, to enable John Kyrle High School & Sixth Form Centre to expand by one form of entry. A grant will be provided to John Kyrle High School & Sixth Form centre to deliver a new science block which will provide additional classrooms and associated support spaces. The project will be delivered and managed by John Kyrle.

That:

(a)       Subject to securing planning consent, a grant of £2,300,900 be awarded to John Kyrle High School and Sixth Form to fund an extension to the John Kyrle High School & Sixth Form Centre to enable its permanent expansion from seven forms of entry (210 pupils per year group) to eight forms of entry (240 pupils per year group); and

(b)  The grant being made subject to a requirement that the build be designed and completed with the objective of obtaining a BREEAM excellent or Passivhaus certification. £260k of the grant being allocated is specifically for this purpose.

1.         The grant is not provided. This is not recommended. There is already a pressure on places in Ross-on-Wye. Failure to invest in John Kyrle means the additional places required for 30 children in year 7 could not be accommodated at John Kyrle in September 2021 or future years. As there is no alternative secondary school in Ross-on-Wye the children would have to travel out of Ross and be accommodated at another school in Herefordshire or in Gloucestershire.

2.         Further mobiles could be installed to provide the additional classroom space required. This is not recommended as the siting of a mobile would not be considered best value as they are looked upon as temporary solutions, have a finite life in planning terms and do not have the life span that permanent build accommodation would have. The council’s School Capital Investment Strategy includes the objective that children are not taught in temporary classrooms.

3.         The council manage the project. This is not recommended as this would not maximise the value of the work that could be secured from the budget allocated. The school have a previous track record of managing large-scale projects with values exceeding £1m to time and budget. Enabling John Kyrle to deliver the project removes the risk from the council as the grant is finite and any expenditure above the grant provided will have to be met by John Kyrle.