Revised Development Strategy

Dear Sir/Madam

We welcome the opportunity to represent the views of Kenilworth's only Secondary School in Warwick District
Council's consultation on new Local Plan. The Governors and senior leadership of the School owe a responsibility to
current and future students, and their parents to ensure that the plan properly accommodates and integrates with
the future needs of the School. Indeed the Town and its community gain significant benefits, direct and indirect, from
having a successful secondary school.

As you will be aware Kenilworth School and Sixth Form has 1750 on roll, including 1300 on the Leyes Lane site and 450
sixth form students on the Rouncil Lane site. The school has recently been judged "Outstanding" by Ofsted and has
shown year on year improvements in results that are significantly above average. The results are the best for a non-
selective state-funded school in Warwickshire. The school has for many years attracted young families to Kenilworth,
keen to ensure the best education for their children. In this way the school helps to balance the age profile of
what is an ageing population in the town. This helps create demand for housing and other facilities, drives turnover
of the housing stock and contributes significantly to the town's economy.

The school is not however without its challenges as it adjusts to a changed educational landscape where schools
are being granted increased autonomy and less support from local authorities.

Kenilworth School is the merger of 3 secondary school sites and buildings, for the most part built in the 1950/60's.
The fabric of the buildings has been maintained but is now approaching the end of its viable useful life. The buildings
do not reflect the low carbon environmental sustainability that you identify as a key part of your strategic vision
for Warwick District. The fact that it remains the merger of 3 older schools means it has duplicated spaces (Halls,
Canteens, etc.) which in most cases are no longer fit for the aggregated size of the school to function efficiently.
In addition many of the teaching spaces are too small, irregularly shaped and under equipped to support a modern
effective learning institution.

The split site nature of the school has always been a challenge despite it being a feature appreciated by the
Sixth Form Students! The split site causes duplication of roles, detracts from efficient leadership and management,
and therefore increases teaching issues and costs. In addition changes to school funding arrangements have
placed increased pressure on Kenilworth School's budget. It is a priority of the School's Governing Body to address
these issues in the short and medium term.

It is important that Kenilworth School stays at the heart of the community, both physically and psychologically, we want
the school to be a centre for activities well beyond the school day supporting sports clubs, Air Cadets training,
community groups and well as providing leisure facilities. The 11-16 curriculum and delivery needs to adapt as the
needs of pupils change, driven by employers and further education requirements. We wish to remain comprehensive
in our provision supporting all segments of our community. Post 16 our provision will remain mainly
academic complementing other provision made locally.





We are a Trust school and therefore own the property the school stands on and have control over our own
admissions policy, which we believe needs to be as wide as possible within the school's places capacity. A large
catchment area allows for choice, a comprehensive intake and a stable budget.

We have read with interest the Thickthorn element of your proposals and are generally supportive of the proposal,
subject to a number of concerns and points that are clarified below.

We are not convinced that the secondary education requirements that will arise as a result of developments have
been fully explored and considered. It is clear from the proposal that it is felt necessary to provide additional primary
places through a new primary school on Thickthorns. However there is an assumption by Warwickshire County Council
that admissions should be restricted to Kenilworth School's priority catchment area first thereby avoiding the
need for additional secondary places. We would dispute this on two grounds.

Firstly, we have yet to see the pupil projections that support this assertion (showing future primary school numbers
and their expected secondary destinations). We would like to see any assumptions about the number of Kenilworth
children who are expected to travel out of the town for their education.

Secondly WCC do not set Kenilworth's admissions policy and we like other successful schools are expected
by central government to expand our places and offer them over the widest possible geography. It would not be
prudent at the current time for the school to be restricted to a narrow intake.

Based on your projections of 3.72 pupils per school year per 100 households, it is possible to see a need for an
additional form of entry. In total this could mean nearly an additional 200 pupils will need to be accommodated.

We also note that the current Thickthorn site is Green Belt/Greenfield and is concentrated on one side of
Kenilworth potentially unbalancing the infrastructure and amenities within the town. Given that Kenilworth School will
most likely need to relocate onto a single site, either one of the current sites or a new site, we would ask that that you
enter discussions with the School as to what part the surplus brownfields site(s) might be better designated for
development than the current Green Belt/Greenfield proposal before the Local Plan is confirmed.

We believe you have quite rightly identified that the infrastructure requirements of the town need to look beyond
the immediate impact of the individual sites to the cumulative impacts. We would like to understand how you see
the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) and other funding opportunities being used to support the secondary provision
in the town (i.e. the educational purposes). Aside from the need to fund new school buildings we are concerned
to understand how the transport and road infrastructure will be adjusted particularly if it we decided to re-site the
whole or part of the school. Again these seem key issues to be addressed before any plan is progressed and finalised.

As you will appreciate there is considerable work to be done before we can be definitive about the future plans
of the school. However we would be happy to share with you our current thinking.

We have significant practical and financial evidence that it is not going to be viable to maintain Kenilworth School
on 2 sites. In order to maintain current educational standards and progress forwards we will need to create
contemporary better equipped flexible learning spaces for our students within the 15 years of your plan.
The current buildings are no longer fit for their purpose.





There are two realistic alternatives:

* Relocate the whole school to Leyes Lane either by building a new sixth form, a total rebuild of the whole school or a
mixture of new and refurbished buildings. This option has the merits of siting the school at the centre of Kenilworth
and on land the school already owns, but space is restricted and the roads infrastructure may not be sufficient to
support the extra traffic. Further work is required to ensure that the sporting opportunities for Kenilworth pupils
and residents are maintained and enhanced by any proposal in this location.

* To build a new school on a new site in Kenilworth. Whilst on paper an easier exercise, in reality the need for new land
(most probably Green Belt/Greenfields), the requirements for new infrastructure and the fact it is likely to be on the
edge of the town make this a less attractive option.

Locating the school at Rouncil Lane is not currently considered a viable option with its limited current access points
and location on the edge of town. It is the most likely site to be freed by the school's relocation and does offer
an opportunity within the Local Plan to use this brownfield land for development, there are 5 acres of built area
available. We would ask you to also consider the remaining playing fields (8 acres) which are currently Green
Belt for redesignation. The inclusion of the total parcel of land in the Local Plan would raise its value, and if
sold would release funds to flow directly back to the community by part funding a new school build. This would benefit
the whole community more than the current proposals for Thickthorn and would spread the development impact across
the town and its infrastructure.

Subject to the issues raised above the Governing Body of Kenilworth School and Sixth Form are supportive of the
Development Strategy for Kenilworth. We are very conscious that if the school is to continue to provide the best
education for Kenilworth children it needs to continuously improve its curriculum, employ the best teachers and provide a modern fully equipped teaching and learning environment, which WDC is in a position to support through the Local Plan.

We are ready at any point to meet with you and discuss the proposals for the town, and how the school can support
the process.