Bid to expand Westfield Community College (From Watford Observer)
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Move to address possible Watford secondary places admissions crisis
2:20pm Thursday 21st February 2013 in News
By Mike Wright, Chief Reporter
A West Watford secondary school could be expanded to help town cope with a looming admissions crisis.
Ruling Hertfordshire politicians are set to weight up proposals to enlarge Westfield Community College by 30 places a year from September 2015.
The move comes as education bosses are predicting that there will be more secondary students than places in Watford by next year if nothing is done.
Education officers forecast that on the current trend there would be a deficit of 11 places from 2014, which would balloon to 226 places by 2020.
A report to Hertfordshire County Council’s cabinet, which sits next week, said Westfield was on the Government’s Priority School Rebuilding Programme and would be rebuilt in the next three years.
The report said: "Given the increasing forecast numbers in the area the proposed rebuild of Westfield offers an ideal opportunity to provide additional places as part of Hertfordshire County Council’s strategy to increase provision in this part of the county.
"It will create an additional 30 places (per year group) in specifically designated and purpose built accommodation in an area where they are needed."
The council surveyed parents and staff at the school about the expansion over December and January, but only nine people responded.
Of the respondents, four agreed with the expansion, three disagreed and two were unsure.
Comments(9)
MarsLander
says...
2:51pm Thu 21 Feb 13
The parents and staff are almost completely apathetic about it.
Maybe it's the wrong college to expand. What's its reputation like nowadays?
TRT
says...
4:47pm Thu 21 Feb 13
Andrew1963 wrote:Attracts isn't quite the right word... has children from as far away as South Oxhey dumped there because everywhere else is full.
This seems far more sensible than building a free school in Croxley. It is a large site, and the school already attracts children from as far away as South Oxhey.
theturpster
says...
5:14pm Thu 21 Feb 13
MarsLander wrote:My lad is a year 8 student, was never made aware of any parent survey. That said, the school has turned itself around, introducing a grammar stream for the gifted and talented. I believe the school has paid dividends for my son as he is sitting GCSE maths exam next month at 12.
Responses show only one thing that is statistically significant, and that is
The parents and staff are almost completely apathetic about it.
Maybe it's the wrong college to expand. What's its reputation like nowadays?
I'm grateful to Westfield for giving children the opportunities that weren't available to our generation :)
theturpster
says...
5:15pm Thu 21 Feb 13
Razor Sharp
says...
10:58pm Thu 21 Feb 13
MarsLander wrote:http://www.ofsted.go
Responses show only one thing that is statistically significant, and that is
The parents and staff are almost completely apathetic about it.
Maybe it's the wrong college to expand. What's its reputation like nowadays?
v.uk/inspection-repo
rts/find-inspection-
report/provider/ELS/
117532
G_Whiz
says...
11:28pm Thu 21 Feb 13
I really think they should think of the taxpayer, their money and opinions before moaning to us about the obvious consequences!
Maybe the people of Watford are part of some Anarchic experiment?
Some left wingers will still blame the banks or rich people - but they forget the rest of us still have eyes and common sense.
Pretty accurate eh!
Of course the final reason is that our councils insist on educating kids from Harrow, Pinner, Hatch End etc!
30 more places will be nowhere near enough, long term!
Chaos!
MarsLander
says...
12:32pm Fri 22 Feb 13
theturpster wrote:I really am so pleased to hear that. I wish the school and all its pupils the very best.
MarsLander wrote:My lad is a year 8 student, was never made aware of any parent survey. That said, the school has turned itself around, introducing a grammar stream for the gifted and talented. I believe the school has paid dividends for my son as he is sitting GCSE maths exam next month at 12.
Responses show only one thing that is statistically significant, and that is
The parents and staff are almost completely apathetic about it.
Maybe it's the wrong college to expand. What's its reputation like nowadays?
I'm grateful to Westfield for giving children the opportunities that weren't available to our generation :)
We need good schools in Watford and it's good to know that what were the weaker schools are joining the stronger ones to give every child a decent education.
Andrew1963
says...
1:41pm Fri 22 Feb 13
TRT wrote:Does better in GCSEs than oversubscribed Bushey Academy, which itself until 3 years ago was undersubscribed. The new Bushey Academy buildings and facilities are fantastic. If Westfield got that standard of new school then it would too be oversubscribed. South Oxhey used to have two secondary schools - both closed due to undersubscription.
Andrew1963 wrote:Attracts isn't quite the right word... has children from as far away as South Oxhey dumped there because everywhere else is full.
This seems far more sensible than building a free school in Croxley. It is a large site, and the school already attracts children from as far away as South Oxhey.
Andrew1963 says...
2:50pm Thu 21 Feb 13