Don’t Squeeze Our Kids:
We oppose the proposed expansion of Kings Heath Primary School
Birmingham City Council’s Education Services Department has produced a feasibility study for the proposed expansion of Kings Heath Primary School from three-form to four-form entry. If approved this would entail the construction of an additional two-storey building, containing 8 classrooms, in the playground. If these developments take place we believe there would be a demonstrable decline in the school experience for KHPS children with a significantly reduced playground and no additional funds for refurbishment of the existing school buildings. We, the undersigned, therefore strongly oppose the planned expansion of the school as we believe the enlargement will:
- reduce the play area and significantly impact on our children’s social and educational experience
- lead to a shortfall in hall provision and impact negatively on meal times, assemblies and school timetabling
- damage the performance of the school and undermine its current popularity
- restrict the circulation space and accessibility for special needs pupils
- fail to be integrated into the rest of the school without the necessary funds to facilitate this
- increase congestion which already exists around the school site and impact on health and safety
Size of the school grounds
The playground, designed for two-form entry, is already crowded. The feasibility document itself states that:
“The proposal to increase the capacity of KHPS by one form-entry seems possible but it must be highlighted that the proposed site is tightly planned and the extension reduces the play area significantly” [our emphasis].
We feel that this significantly reduced play area is completely unsuitable for the current pupils, let alone an additional 210 pupils, and could have significant social, educational, and health and safety implications for KHPS children.
Size of the school halls
As a school designed for two-form entry, KHPS cannot currently accommodate all the pupils in one hall. The feasibility document states that:
“No additional hall provision has been included within the proposal and a shortfall in hall provision of 110sqm has been identified” [our emphasis].
An increase of pupils would have a huge impact on meal times, which are already taken in short shifts. Without making dinner time longer, it is difficult to see how more pupils could be catered for during dinner time. There would be the same problem for PE classes. The increase in pupil intake would also affect assemblies and other school events which promote cohesion in the school. For example, the larger of the two halls would no longer be able to hold all KS2 pupils for assemblies.
Effect on accessibility of whole school site to all pupils
As described in the feasibility document, the school is currently a: “fully accessible school and has 21 children on its roll who have ‘special needs’”. We believe the proposals will reduce accessibility for some children in the school. The feasibility document describes the school as having narrow corridors. Negotiating these narrow corridors in wheelchairs with the existing volume of pupil traffic is already difficult. Enlargement would make this task even harder. We feel that this goes entirely against the spirit of fully accessible schools.
Traffic
The school is situated on a busy commuter route into town. At present the volume of traffic at the start and end of school creates considerable congestion. There is already a problem with cars parked up on pavements around the school. We believe expansion will jeopardise the safety of children coming to school and make congestion even worse.
Alternative options for the council
We dispute the criteria on which the expansion plans are based and we urge Birmingham City Council and the Director of Children, Young People and Families to look for more imaginative and sustainable solutions.
