The-New-Arden-Leaflet

The New Arden A Centre for Community Learning This is a wonderful once in a lifetime opportunity to enhance our school and create new community facilities for everyone in the localit

If new homes

are inevitable,

how can we

maximise the

community

benefits?

The New Arden

A Centre for Community

Learning

This is a wonderful once in a lifetime opportunity to enhance our school and create new

community facilities for everyone in the locality The following is clear:

· Solihull Council has to build 8205 new homes in the next ten years

· Solihull’s draft plan allocates 1050 new homes in Knowle across two sites

Please help us to realise our dream by supporting Site 9, Options 2

http://www.arden.solihull.sch.uk/arden-2020/

Imagine a school fit for purpose and with fantastic

community facilities for young and old…

Imagine a school in keeping with our beautiful

surroundings…

Why do we need a new school?

2

Buildings & Facilities

• 75% of the school site is in need of refurbishment with premises no longer fit for purpose

• The school was first built in the late 1950s; the school hall, main teaching blocks, library and

dining area are largely the same as when built The student dining area is not fit for purpose; the school hall is in very poor shape for productions and assemblies and is so no longer big enough

to house 2 year groups for assemblies

• The school was designed as an 4-form entry; it is now a 10-form entry

• The EFSA Survey undertaken in 2013 identified the following elements of the main school

blocks that would fail soon: electrical power and lighting; heating; water systems; IT and

communications infrastructure; drainage; gas distribution and all external doors and windows (most recently there was a 2 day heating outage)

• The energy efficiency of the original buildings is poor due to single glazing and poorly insulated

cladding; running costs are over £100K pa more than a modern building

• Electrics/cabling/inability to add electrical data points/electrical capacity/pods and lighting

mean classrooms are unsuitable for latest IT equipment

• Further rejuvenation and renovation is no longer possible or cost efficient; the investment

required to update our present site is at least £18m These sums of money from the public purse are no longer available and even if they were, Arden would be a building site for over 10 years, impacting hugely on student learning

• The facilities for the wider community use are very limited

• There is no 6th form library and sixth form students have no suitable places to eat

Pedestrian/Traffic Issues

• The school site was designed for 500 pupils; there are now 1704 students plus 200 staff who

arrive and leave the site every day; this will increase by 200 as the number of students increases over the next 3 years

• Major road safety concerns have been raised about Station Road with 6 reported near misses

last year (pupils hit by cars and buses); traffic calming measures being reviewed

• Pavements are narrower with the growth in trees and hedgerows on the routes to school

• Significant traffic congestion outside school at beginning and end of day with tailbacks (the

Council are aware of this)

• No parking on site for parents in the evening and no drop off points

• Any building work on site requires vehicle access, affecting school operations

• New school will create a rolling road, better traffic management and safer access for students

via 4 or 5 points of access away from main roads The KDBH Local Neighbourhood Plan refers to these traffic issues

Lack of Community Sport, Health & Social Facilities

The school fails to provide the following facilities to the community:

• Gym or swimming pool

• Floodlit AstroTurf pitch

• Adequate community meeting facilities

• Youth Centre for the young people in our local community

Please help us to realise our dream by supporting Site 9, Options 2

http://www.arden.solihull.sch.uk/arden-2020/

Current Impact of School Conditions on Teaching and Learning

• Classrooms have 96% usage rate

• School hall cannot accommodate assemblies for 2 year groups

• Dining hall can only accommodate 120 seated students in cramped conditions

• Some exams take place in the school hall but this can be noisy as it is next to kitchens;

additional examination space is required particularly as the number of exams increase

• Acoustics in the school hall are poor for concerts/performances

• The designated space for PE and Sports also has to be used for teaching and examinations

• Toilet locations and conditions are poor

• No covered external facilities to keep children dry at lunchtime or between lesson change over

• No dry outdoor social space

• Changing facilities for sport is limited and poor as student numbers increase

• Insufficient science labs or ICT/Computing rooms

• Accessibility for those with disabilities is poor with ramps but no lifts in the original building

• No hearing loops due to unsuitable infrastructure

The ‘Arden Triangle’ development offers the opportunity for a new state of the art school and community facilities which would be built without disrupting the current school or pupils

Over the next ten years, Arden Academy would need to spend £18-£20 million of public monies to update the existing school The building work would impact on pupils’ learning Currently the

school has no means of funding the investment

The Council is currently undertaking a supplementary consultation on its Draft Local Plan which provides a crucial opportunity to register your support

for a new school

We need you to help us realise our dream by supporting Site 9 Option 2

Please visit the website for more information:

Our Ambitions for The New Arden – A Centre for Community Learning

• A New Arden with modern features that will realise the incredible potential for student

attainment and wider community use

• A new 3 storey school to accommodate the anticipated growth of secondary school pupils, sixth

form students and primary school children

• A 600 seat Performing Arts Theatre

• A Swimming Pool and Sports Centre

• 4G floodlit pitch and MUGA

• Gymnastics Centre

• Day Nursery

• Youth Centre

• Potential to co-locate new Primary School to share facilities

• There will be full community use and the opportunity to engage young and old alike