Council confirms £14m funding for school improvements in Nottinghamshire

Two schools in Nottinghamshire are to be replaced and expanded in the coming years following a funding pledge by the local council.

Nottinghamshire County Council has allocated £14 million to support the planned work at Bestwood Village Hawthorne Primary School and Orchard School in Newark, which will deliver improved facilities for hundreds of pupils.

Bestwood Village Hawthorne Primary School is to be rebuilt and expanded at a cost of around £5 million to meet the needs of an area that has experienced significant growth in housing numbers in recent years, creating additional demand for school places.

As such, the two current sites will be consolidated into a single building housing 315 pupils, with enough land capacity to expand to at least a 420-pupil capacity, should plans for further housebuilding be carried through.

Meanwhile, Orchard School has secured £9 million in funding following a campaign spanning several years. The council had previously pledged £5 million, with a further contribution of more than £1 million from the Education Funding Agency, but now an additional £2.5 million of special schools basic need funding has also been committed. This will allow a state-of-the-art new complex to be created.

Alan Rhodes, leader of Nottinghamshire County Council, said: "Our plans for ongoing and increased investment in our schools is helping to transform the learning environment for thousands of our children - and the benefits are obvious, with 90 per cent of children and young people in Nottinghamshire attending a good or outstanding school."

Since 2013, 5,500 additional primary school places have been created by Nottinghamshire County Council, at a cost of nearly £70 million. This includes 1,500 places for the 2016-17 academic year alone.