“We are a 2 form entry primary school based in Hertfordshire, with a Good Ofsted rating. We are usually full each year, but started to notice a trend where our intake was dropping. We have an external provider who runs our wraparound care, but they are heavily oversubscribed with a long waiting list. New children who start the school are unable to get a place in the wraparound care provision and are often on the waiting list for a year or 2. The last few years on our open days for nursery and reception children, the volume of parents requesting spaces for wraparound care has increased dramatically. Our wraparound care provider is unable to take any more children, with over 80 names on a waiting list, parents have been vocal and said they would not choose our school due to this.
The result has been a drop in pupils on roll, impacting on the school’s budget. The school also lacks space, and when we had water leaks in classrooms we had no spare space to move the class into, except for the hall. This is far from ideal as it meant we could not hold assemblies, PE lessons were cancelled and the school hall is a walk way, so classes were constantly disrupted.
There is a new school that opened in the area which can provide wraparound care and has plenty of space. The school was looking for a solution to our predicament, with restricted funds to solve the issue, and to be able to offer the facilities parents required and the space for the children to be educated in.
We started to investigate having a modular building on site, to be able to provide the space needed, and to see if the school budget would stretch that far. We knew that we could not apply for a CIF bid for funding, as these were not urgent works and there was no impact on our PAN. The school had not been asked to increase its capacity, therefore it would not qualify as an expansion/extension project.
It was a school need to protect our pupil numbers, income, and the support and services our families at the school needed. Once the prices come back in we realised we didn’t have enough money to get what we needed. That was when we were first put in contact with Room 12. I cannot say how helpful and knowledgeable they have been and held our hands throughout the process.
We contacted the DfE ‘Get help buying for schools’ to use a recommended framework for our modular build. The process for this started in February 2024. We went with a company called The Qube. They first attended site at the start of March to look at possible locations and the one they felt would be the best option, using their experience on planning applications……Lots of meetings, phone calls and Governor meetings took place to ensure what we were planning was the right move for the school, the building would provide the space we needed and was also future proof.….We eventually agreed on a size and a design.
Planning permission was submitted at the end of March and then it was just a case of sit and wait to hear. On 10th June we heard back and had approval for the modular build, it was then all systems go. We had our first on site meeting on 2nd July 2024 with our project manager. Work started on the foundations at the beginning of August, and we got the keys to out new building on 7th October.
We have named the building “The Lodge”. It holds an additional 32 children for breakfast and afterschool clubs, taking our numbers to 86 a day. During the day The Lodge is used for small group work, staff training, meetings…..the list goes on.
On our recent open mornings we were extremely proud to show off The Lodge and our increased facility for wraparound care. The building looks impressive, provides an invaluable service to the school and we are looking forward to seeing our 2025-26 intake increase.
At times when The Lodge is not being used we can look to hire out the space to generate additional income for the school.
We used Room12 for our finance lease who have been amazing. Any queries or concerns, they have been at the end of the phone to help. Payments to the contractor have been prompt, ensuring everything went smoothly.
During the process we applied to our Local Authority for wraparound care funding to help with the costs of the build, and were lucky to be awarded a sum of money, therefore at the last moment we were able to restructure our payments and reduce our rental costs even further. We now have a service that parents really need, a space that the community can use and hire and benefit the school, with a modern building with multi uses throughout the day for both staff and pupils.
In October Room12 attended site to see the finished article and agreed what a fantastic addition to the school it was”.
Jo – School Business Manager