Council reveals design of village's new school
THESE pictures show for the first time how a new school and nursery earmarked for a South Derbyshire village could look.
Derbyshire County Council has submitted plans for what it hopes will become the new home for Church Gresley Infant and Nursery School, on land off Pennine Way.
The scheme would see the school move from its existing site in York Road, where it occupies a Victorian building and two annexes described by the council as being in a ‘poor condition’.
The new site borders and shares an access road with the existing Pennine Way Junior Academy, with the infant school entering a new era of closer cooperation with its neighbour, according to the authority.
In a document submitted to its own planning department, a council spokesman says: “The new school will be accessible to all, providing a quality environment for learning, including a hall, catering kitchen, nursery, nine large classrooms, two group teaching rooms and a range of staff facilities.
“External areas will be zoned separately for the nursery, reception and key stage one children and will provide stimulating outside spaces for play and for learning.
“The school will be able to use, with agreement, extensive grassed recreation areas offered by the existing school and the location will also contribute to effective progression of children to the junior school and closer liaison between staff, providing opportunities to ensure easier co-ordination in relation to curriculum provision.
“The proximity of the two schools also clearly brings practical advantages for parents with children at both schools in terms of dropping off and picking up children at the beginning and end of the school day.”
The new school will occupy a 6,470sq metre site including outdoor play areas, while the county council is also in the process of acquiring an additional 600sq metres of land to the north of the site for a car park.
The 1,790sq metre school building will accommodate 270 pupils aged four to seven, an increase on the existing school’s 240 places to accommodate an expected increase in pupil numbers caused by new housing developments, plus a 52-place nursery.
The development would result in grassland and woodland being bulldozed, but envisages the creation of a new woodland and grassland habitat on the Pennine Way Junior Academy site.
A consultation has been launched on the proposal, with documentation due to be sent out to residents next week.
