North Northamptonshire Council initiative met with criticism and a petition after inviting expressions of interest for schools to move to Glenvale Park facility in Wellingborough

A new initiative by North Northants Council (NNC) to potentially relocate an existing primary school to Glenvale Park has been met with opposition, including a petition launched to attempt to stop one local school from moving to the new facility.

People have been expressing their disapproval by signing a change.org petition to keep Little Harrowden Community Primary School at its current location. This comes after a letter was sent to parents regarding a potential move to the empty site at the new Glenvale Park housing estate.

The letter reads: “Little Harrowden Community Primary School meets all of the eligibility criteria.

"We have been asked by the council to consult with our parents regarding this.

"To clarify, we are only consulting at this stage. No school has yet been chosen to move to the new site.”

The petition, which was started yesterday and surpassed 300 signatures at 11.15 this morning (June 20), invites input from those who have an interest in keeping the school in Little Harrowden. Comments have cited the school’s importance to the area, with one calling the proposal ‘another nail in this lovely village’s coffin.’

The idea for an existing school to move to Glenvale Park comes after the council recently acknowledged that the demand for school places won’t meet the requirements needed for Department of Education funding.

As a result, local schools are now being invited to submit expressions of interest in relocating to the Glenvale Park development to the north of Wellingborough.

On this, Cllr Scott Edwards, the council’s executive member for children, families, education and skills, said: “I’m delighted that we are now moving forward with this process and are at the stage of inviting expressions of interest from schools.

“I’m very pleased that we can make use of this wonderful new school until the bulge of new demand comes through and offer some contemporary accommodation for an existing school which would face challenges with their current site.”

The opportunity to relocate is one that would allow a school that currently has ‘poor or unsuitable accommodation’ to move to the Glenvale Park facility from September 2024. The council insists that the vacated site could be repurposed for ‘other educational uses.’

Cllr Jason Smithers, leader of the council, praised the idea as ‘a clever solution’, allowing the Glenvale park school to be used ‘as quickly as is possible’.

Little Harrowden Community Primary School was visited by Ofsted earlier this year, whereby it maintained its good rating with inspectors noting the school’s utilising of outdoor spaces, its ‘well-planned, ambitious curriculum’, and support of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) pupils.

Just 11 days ago, parents and carers were contacted concerning a potential new zebra crossing in Main Street, a campaign by the school which was supported by Little Harrowden Parish Council. The proposal was relayed to inform people that it ‘would affect drop off and pick up times.’

Glenvale Park will provide an additional 3,000 new homes in Wellingborough and the school is due for completion this autumn.

NNC is still inviting expressions of interests from local primary schools until June 30, after this a shortlisting and interviewing stage takes place between July 3 and July 14.