Leader of South Gloucestershire Council, Toby Savage joined local MP Luke Hall for a visit to Old Sodbury Primary School on Monday 22nd July to discuss the possibility of extending the village primary school with the Head Teacher Bernice Webber-Brown and Chair of Governors Trish Gailey. The Conservative led Council has a plan to invest £78 million into school capital projects to ensure that local education is a top priority in South Gloucestershire.
Old Sodbury Primary currently has 97 pupils on roll and there has been a steady increase in numbers since the school received its outstanding status back in November 2011. However, the staff feel that infrastructure changes must be put in place to ensure that the school can continue to accommodate the ever-growing number of pupils in Old Sodbury and the surrounding villages whilst maintaining its outstanding status.
There are issues with the current structure due to the lack of space meaning that the year 2 and year 3 pupils share a classroom however the class crosses both the Key stage 1 curriculum and key stage 2 curriculum, making it very challenging to teach. The reception and year 1 classes are also combined however the reception class follows a YFS framework which is a completely different curriculum to year 1.
Luke and Toby discussed with the Head Teacher and the Chair of Governors what improvements could be made to the school including an extension at the front of the school, redeveloping the staff room and the reception/ year 1 class and extending the playground.
Local MP Luke says “Although the school and staff have been very proactive about using the small space, it is important that South Gloucestershire Council are aware of the challenges that the school is facing. As our local MP, I wanted to ensure that we brought together the key people to have this discussion to show the benefits that this scheme would have on the school.”
Cllr Toby Savage, Leader of South Gloucestershire Council, said: “Many thanks to Luke for arranging the meeting and giving me the chance to see the great work being done at Old Sodbury School as well as the challenges they currently face. I was very interested to listen to the proposed solutions to these challenges and look forward to them in more depth in due course. Increasing school standards across South Gloucestershire is our highest priority and we will certainly consider any actions that the Council can take in order to support that.”
