A cornerstone of the Trust’s bid for funding was to satisfy the need for primary school places and redress the geographic imbalance in provision. With eight schools to the east of Caversham, none to the west and insufficient places to meet demand, the chances of children in the west gaining a place at their catchment school was slim. (see “why we need a school“)

*the blue circle represents the data point

The result of this is that there are a large number of children travelling across Caversham  each morning to schools that are often several miles from their home and well beyond walking distance. This is unsustainable and places a burden on the whole community, not just those fighting the traffic to get their children to school in the morning.

The vision of the Trust in addressing this was to provide a neighbourhood school, within the community and for the community it serves, with children walking to school with their neighbours.

The Free School process prevents proposer groups (like The Heights Primary Trust) from entering into discussions to secure a site for the school. Location issues are specifically excluded from the list of assessment criteria at the bidding stage

The grounds given for this by the Department for Education are that it prevents the body charged with procuring the school (the Education Funding Agency) from doing so at a level which reflects open market value. As a result the consultation normally afforded through the Free School process is carried out in two phases:

Phase 1: Statutory Consultation under S.10 of the Academies Act on the vision, ethos, admission, catchment and policies of the school. Further details of this can be found under consultation

Phase 2: Following the identification and procurement of the most appropriate site by the EFA, the community is consulted on its proposals for a new school through the planning process administered by the local authority (Reading Borough Council).

The procurement of The Heights Primary School’s permanent site has become a very controversial and much debated topic amongst the community. Whilst 77% of residents polled by Rob Wilson MP last summer agree that a school is needed for West Caversham it is clear that the community is divided as what the best solution would be for both the school and the community. This has laid bare the limitations and difficulties surrounding site identification for Free Schools and led to the unprecedented move by the EFA to ask RBC to undertake a consultation as to whether any of the area’s publicly owned or controlled land should be used for the school.

The timeline of events are set out below.

May 2013	EFA appointed to identify and secure the most appropriate site available to accommodate the school. Consultants appointed by the EFA contact all local property agents and RBC to understand what land, sites and buildings are available to accommodate the school. 40 sites are identified of varying
After an extensive search it identified Highridge on Upper Warren Avenue as the only viable privately available site in Catchment.
5 June 2014	It is announced that the EFA has bought High Ridge as a permanent home for the school.
2 July 2014	Following opposition to High Ridge, the EFA wrote to Rob Wilson MP to say “if there is a specific site that you and the community feels could be supported in place of Upper Warren Avenue, then please do let me know.”
29 August 2014	Rob Wilson MP sent an update to local residents, which included confirmation that the EFA were to consider the alternative options proposed by the local stakeholder group:“The EFA suggests that its target to complete this work is by late September, but depending on a number of factors this could stray into October.”“The EFA was due to appoint architects /contractors for the Highridge site within the next 2/3 weeks. I have agreed with the EFA that this will now be postponed for 8 weeks so that the thorough assessments on alternative locations can be undertaken and reported back to local residents. I am assured this would not result in a delay to a September 2016 opening for a permanent school.“
19 November 2014	The EFA complete their review, almost two months later than initially stated, and wrote to Rob Wilson MP and Reading Borough Council. They stated that work on High Ridge was suspended indefinitely, and requested Reading Borough Council’s assistance in obtaining the views of local residents and parents.
16 January 2015	The local stakeholder group agree Reading Borough Council’s proposed consultation process, along with the potential inclusion of two new sites, but on the understanding that this causes no further delays.
4 February 2015	It is announced that the addition of a fifth site has delayed the consultation process, meaning that it will not now be completed until after the election.