News Caernarfon North Wales area

The project involves building a new school in one of the most deprived communities in Wales. It has the following objectives:

- to ensure that primary education is delivered to the children and young people of the Peblig ward in Caernarfon in a high quality environment, in a modern school that is fit for purpose;

- to provide vulnerable children from a deprived area the best possible experiences to allow them to gain confidence, to learn and work with others, and to fulfil their potential:

- to develop a new school that will become a community resource centre for a deprived area, providing accommodation for community services tailored towards the need of the Peblig ward and a centre for community activity. Such a centre will focus in particular on delivering integrated and co-ordinated services from various agencies aimed at vulnerable children and their families.

There is genuine concern about the condition and suitability of the existing Hendre Primary School. The building requires substantial investment so as to comply with health and safety issues. The existing building is poorly laid out, does not satisfy current environmental and design guidance, and is short of many basic facilities. Such concerns have been identified in the Council's Asset Management Plan which highlights the need to invest £1.3 million urgently in the existing building.

The school is the largest primary school in Gwynedd, with 375 pupils. It is full to capacity. New residential development planned within the catchment area will mean that this figure could exceed 450 in 3-5 years, meaning that some children will have to be turned away and relocated in nearby primary schools. The pressure on teachers in particular will be intolerable - especially in view of the poor state of the existing building. Opportunities for the children will become more limited as a result. The difficulties in planning the new curriculum and in the delivery of the Foundation Phase - a key priority for the Assembly Government - cannot be over-emphasised.

Estyn Inspectors have also voiced their concern about the condition of the school building, and highlighted the need for the Local Education Authority to improve the quality and suitability of the building and the outside area. Estyn have also identified the impact of poor school buildings on performance. It has stated that "school buildings that are in poor condition cannot meet modern teaching and learning requirements. Inadequate buildings make it more challenging to make improvements in standards of achievements".

- demolish the existing school building and dispose of the land on the open market. The site is suitable for housing
and can accommodate 50 residential units. This will generate a value of £ 1.2 million;

- build a new school, with a capacity for 450 children, on a nearby site which is owned by Gwynedd Council - on land known locally as Cae Phillips. The site is suitable for the development of a new school building,, with good access and sufficient land for car parking and outdoor activities;

- secure Section 106 agreements with the developers of new residential development on nearby sites to contribute financially to the cost of building the new school - £200,000; a commitment of £ 1.3 million from the Local Authority towards the development of the new school. This reflects the commitment as identified in the Council's Asset Management Plan;

- incorporate the latest green technology in the design of the new building, including renewable energy, and build the new school in keeping with BREAM excellence.

The project will "lever in" £1.4 million of private sector funding towards the development of the new school. It will also lead to a contribution of £1.3 million from Gwynedd Council.

The project will have a direct benefit for nearly 450 children and young people, with a high proportion from vulnerable families. The outcomes for the children will be significant, especially in terms of their well-being, their confidence and their education performance.

The new school will also be a focus for community activities and services - providing modern facilities for a deprived community. The project will therefore have many more beneficiaries than just children - and it is estimated that over 1,500 people from the Peblig Ward (a Community First area) will make use and take advantage of the new school. Activities that can be located at the new school include basic skills training for adults, CAB, Advice to parents from Careers Wales, Sport and Leisure activities for the community, etc. It will be a centre that will be open and accessible to the residents of the Peblig Ward 7 days a week.

The new development will also reduce CO2 emissions and will be in keeping with our environmental objectives. The current school building, due to its age, construction and outdated layout, generates approximate 70 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum and is the 6^th highest CO2 emitter of all the Authority's primary schools. The new building will not only incorporate the highest possible environmental operating standards but would also aim to generate heat and power by means of renewable energy thus cutting the annual CO2 emissions to the bare minimum.

- One Wales - most of the policy areas within One Wales are served by this project and full details are given in the
Direct Links Section below - these include 21^st Century Schools.

One of the chief aims of the North West Wales Spatial Development Strategy is to "equip residents with the skills to benefit fully from economic opportunities through a more dynamic and competitive local workforce", together with its stated Key Intervention of "analysing the causes of economic inactivity and develop a selection of support measures appropriate to the needs of individuals, and developing the use of community activities, through social enterprises, to support the access of individuals to work".

The project will also deliver on one of the key priorities of the North West Wales Spatial Plan, which is to improve education and training opportunities for children and local people in the area.

Community Learning and Careers Ladders Wales targeted at a recognised area of deprivation - in this the project provides the focus for joint actions between the third sector and public sector bodies.

The Regeneration Agenda - this community is a Communities First area and the project will provide the facilities to deliver specific measures for regeneration e.g. Skillbuild, pre-employment learning; Jobs Match (building on the successful Dock Victoria blue-print), ILM schemes, the Genesis programme and Community Next priorities in a complementary way and where they are needed most.

The new school will also be sensitive to the needs of the local community. It will be the location for a number of various community-based services, tailored around the needs of the local population. It will develop into a centre where integrated services will be delivered for vulnerable children and their families, building on good practice within the County. This will ensure that a Team Around the Child model is put in place, thus bringing services from Health, Education, Children Social Service, the Police and voluntary organisations together to plan effectively for the future of the most vulnerable children and young people in the area. Such an approach will benefit the professional workforce, and also of course the vulnerable children and families living in the area. Building the new school is essential in order to achieve such an integrated and co-ordinated approach for vulnerable children and their families.

The risks for such a project include unexpected costs in developing the new school. There is also a risk in terms of unexpected changes to demographic patterns over the next 10 years. However, the risks of doing nothing are far greater, especially in view of new residential development being permitted despite the capacity issue faced by the existing school building.

The new school must also be affordable within the capital and revenue budgets available, and must facilitate an improvement in the quality of experiences that will be available for children and young people in the area.

Feedback from Spatial Plan Core Groups in terms of fit with Wales Spatial Plan priorities

This project will serve to further a number of the aims of One Wales and is guided by its stated overall ambition, namely:

"Our ambition is no less than to transform Wales into a self-confident, prosperous, heakhy nation and society, which is fair to all".

- will meet the aim of creating 21^st Century Schools, with the proposed new school:

This is a project that will assist the Welsh Assembly Government in meeting its target of ensuring that all schools in Wales should be housed in accommodation fit for teaching and learning in the 21^st Century (Chapter 6 -Learning for Life).

- meets the sustainability requirements of public funding and the green agenda with enthusiasm - this will be a state of the art eco-friendly school in its environmental design, building materials, the use of green technologies and in energy conservation and micro-generation - with the added dividend of strengthening sustainability and changing behaviour through linking the building itself to the science and technology curriculum (Chapter 4 - A Prosperous Society; Chapter 8 - A Sustainable Environment);

will release the present site of the school for building to meet local housing need, improve access to housing and increase the supply of affordable housing (Chapter 5 -Living Communities); will be sited in such a way as to provide safe footpath routes to the school (Chapter 5 - Living Communities); will ensure the best start for young children, and provide the facilities for high quality childcare to be provided for 2 year olds (Chapter 6 - Learning for Life); will contribute to the One Wales agenda of regenerating communities through providing the facilities for the linking of advice services and delivery at the local level (Chapter 7 - Learning for Life); will build on the proposed inter-agency joint-working at the new school to ensure a focus on child poverty and for undertaking actions together for its eradication (Chapter 7 - Learning for Life); increase inclusiveness and opportunities for partaking in local cultural activities, fitness activities and sports, and to make them fun for all ages (Chapter 9 - A Rich and Diverse Culture).

There will be close collaboration between education, social services and health agencies in order to achieve the aim and objectives of the project.

There will also be a close working relationship with all the agencies involved in the Community First project on the Peblig ward, in order that the new development is in keeping with needs and aspirations. The views of children and young people will also be a major consideration in the detailed design of the building.

The environment agencies will also be involved, and there will be close collaboration with the architects to ensure that the school incorporates all the latest green and renewable energy technology.

The new school will also be a focus for sport and leisure activities in the area, delivering a comprehensive programme to meet the health and fitness requirements of various initiatives aimed at children and young people.

The development of the new school is a genuine opportunity to deliver cross-cutting collaboration, involving education, social services, health, environment and renewable energy, sport and leisure activities, community-based services and integrated support for vulnerable people. The school will be the hub for such collaboration at a local level.

Evidence of readiness to start and details of any planning consent required and status

Detailed design and planning consent will be in place by December 2009. The earliest start date for the project will be June 2010.

The number of jobs likely to be supported by such a project during construction phase is around 130.

Details of efficiencies that will result from the investment, amount, timing and beneficiaries

Delivering the project will mean that significant amount of money will not have to be found to continuously maintain and upgrade a poorly designed and inadequate school building for 375 children. The cost of maintaining a newly built and environment friendly building will be much less.