Second primary school could be built at Tadpole Farm

Quattro Design Architects have submitted plans for a new single-storey William Morris School which would have 420 pupils enrolled once it opens in September 2019.

The school is expected to cover the majority of the extra pupil places that will be needed from the completion of the Tadpole Garden Village development.

There are still 1,300 houses yet to be built in this part of North Swindon.

The school would be built on 3,000sq.m across three hectares of land adjacent to the Crest Nicholson housing development, north-east of the Tadpole Farm development and near the back of Chapel Farm.

The site has been allocated by Swindon Borough Council, with space for playgrounds, playing fields, car parking and service areas.

It would be accessed from the north via Greene Street, near the Tadpole Farm School which was built in 2014.

Areas to the south east and south west will have most of the school’s outside play areas, surrounded by hedgerows

The school will look to promote active travel through good local bus services, cycling and walking in order to reduce vehicles at the school grounds.

The developer hopes that the school will also operate outside of school hours for community events and other uses.

It will feature 15 classrooms, four shared teaching areas, one food science area, a main hall, a studio, a plant room, caretaker accommodation, a kitchen, a staff room, admin areas, and space for lockers.

Its design and layout will be similar to that of Tadpole Farm School, and a footway and cycleway with street lighting along Greene Street could be constructed to provide a safe walking and cycling route between Tadpole Garden Village and the proposed school.

A spokesperson for Quattro Design Architects said: “Our intention is to create a contemporary, inviting, exciting environment, which will be stimulating and practical for the students, staff and wider community, and will conform to current standards and sustainability issues.

“The objective of the proposal is to provide modern teaching and learning facilities to cater for the expanding community, whilst providing a link and strong identity to the existing and successfully completed Tadpole Farm CE Primary School.”

It is anticipated that there will be about 600 extra pupils due to demographic trends and house building in the area by 2023.

In addition to the existing and planned primary schools in Tadpole Farm, Swindon Borough Council has already put other measures in place to meet this rise.

This included expanding the number of pupils at Orchid Vale and Haydonleigh Primary Schools in 2012, and opening the 840-capacity Swindon Academy.

The new school’s developers suggest that an extra school will also be required at Abbey Farm to meet the demand generated from smaller infill developments in North Swindon, especially around Blunsdon Stadium.