School may be making a move

9:18am Wednesday 4th January 2006

SWINDON'S Commonweal School could be on the move to the new Front Garden site.

School governors are looking at the options for a relocation of the school.

The number of pupils has nearly tripled since the school was built in the 1920s and many of the structures are now of a poor standard.

Chairman of the governing body David Brown said something needs to be done to modernise the school whether that is a redevelopment or a move.

"The last two Ofsted reports, although very positive about teaching and learning, drew attention to the inadequacies of the current accommodation.

"As governors we need to think about how we can deal with this.

"The Southern Development Area has outlined for a school to be built there.

"If we did not move, and redeveloped, then we would be eating into our school playing fields so that is also a consideration.

"But whatever happens we will have to do something in the interim, to improve the school building, particularly the mobile classrooms." When the school was first built there were 410 pupils on its roll that number has now swelled to 1,102 pupils.

Responding to these concerns, Swindon Council suggested that the school should consider re-locating to a site within the new Front Garden development.

But this is a Foundation School, which means the council does not have the power to force the school to move.

Swindon Council funded a feasibility study, which provides a critical analysis of options.

The report stated: "The existing site is poorly served by vehicular access points and offers limited opportunity for further development.

"The current building is predominantly of poor quality and badly suited to the needs of the school.

"Lack of funds has meant that maintenance expenditure in recent years has been predominantly of a reactive nature."

Commonweal has Performing Arts status.

The report added: "In order to develop this further a dedicated facility is required.

"This is also seen as a potential income growth area, as the facilities are currently rented out to community groups."

An open meeting will be held at the school next Wednesday at 7pm where parents can take part in a discussion with the school governors and Swindon Council education officers including Hilary Pitts, director of Swindon Services.

Mr Brown said: "The purpose of the meeting is to explain to people including parents and our feeder schools what is going on."

The governors are in the process of creating a 20 Frequently Asked Questions section on their school website about the future of Commonweal and they will also be keeping parents, feeder schools and local residents up to date with what happens.