Yes, hot meals are provided to children at The Heights, supplied by Crumbs, a local outside caterer.  Current menus can be viewed under the Key School Information section on the main school website.

As part of Reading Borough Council’s Let’s Talk Education consultation, it was identified that an additional primary school was required in North Reading.  The Council’s preferred method of doing this was for a group to submit a bid to the Department for Education to set up a new primary under the Free School process.

When the Heights Academy Trust was set up, the council identified that the quickest route to opening a new school was for a proposer group to submit a bid to open a new Free School.  The Heights therefore has the full backing from Reading Borough Council and is their preferred long term option for solving the capacity issues in North Reading.

Yes, The Heights Academy Trust are working with Reading Borough Council to develop the school.  The Heights is being set up in response to the council’s request that a group submitted a bid to open a new school under the Department for Education’s free school process.  Reading Borough Council Officers and Councillors have given their full support to the school. The Council will run the admissions process on the Trust’s behalf.

Due to the obvious lack of school places for primary aged children in the Caversham area, the other primary schools have been supportive of our plans and welcome another school in the area to avoid the need for bulge classes.

Caversham and Emmer Green have an excellent offering of Primary Schools. The Heights has not been set up to provide an alternative choice for parents. It has been set up to solve the shortage of school places in North Reading and also to provide a school for the Caversham Heights area, reducing the distance that children currently have to travel to get to school.

We are not aware of any plans by Reading council to amend catchment areas as a result of The Heights.

The catchment area has been devised in partnership with Reading Borough Council to serve the community of Caversham Heights and Mapledurham. Its boundaries were set with reference to the data for the last five years’ school admissions to ensure as many children as possible are able to get into their catchment school.

Parents have expressed an interest in transferring children into years other than reception in 2014.  However, when writing the bid, we felt it was only appropriate to allow this for years 1 and 3.  Year 1 students would be entering the Heights at the start of Key Stage 1, a natural time for change.  Year 3 students will have already completed Key Stage 1 and therefore move to the Heights for the start of Key Stage 2.  However, we did not receive sufficient applications to be able to go ahead with Year 3 and so The Heights only opened with two Reception classes and one Year 1 class.

It is within the vision of the school and it’s overall ethos that classes should not have more than 25 pupils in them.   This was accepted by the Department for Education at the bid stage and is written into our Funding Agreement.  Our Published Admissions Number for 2015 is 50 children, made up of two Reception classes.  We are only allowed to exceed this number if parents are successful through the Appeals Process.

The Heights was primarily developed to address the capacity issue in North Reading as a whole.  However, when asked by the council for volunteers to put in a bid to set up a new Free School, it was those living in Caversham Heights, in the dual Emmer Green / The Hill catchment and Caversham Primary area that came forward.  In this area, children are only likely to get into their designated schools if they take on a bulge year.  The catchment area has been expanded, based on feedback from the community and the council to include more children that are unlikely to obtain a place in their designated school.

The admissions policy for The Heights is the same as that for Reading Borough Council administered schools.  This does mean that those living closes to the data point (a central point identified within the catchment area, in the absence of a location for the school) and within catchment will have a greater chance of getting a place at The Heights than those further away.  This is the same with all schools in Reading.

The Heights Trust sought the views of many parents, teachers and other community members prior to establishing the vision for the school. It was clear that smaller class sizes were an important aspect to these stakeholders and therefore became a key feature of our vision.  Our bid was approved on the back of our formal Evidence of Demand survey, which (at time of submission) 289 people completed.  Of these, 99% were in favour of our vision.  It was this vision that the bid was approved upon and so not something we are able to change at this stage.

We were also aware that St Martin’s Primary were due to expand, partly addressing the need for an additional 60 places in North Reading.  It was therefore felt that a Published Admissions Number (PAN) of 50 per year would be appropriate.

In the bid, we had to demonstrate that the school could be financially viable with a smaller PAN.  This was achieved by not using an education provider to manage our bid, with the majority of the work being carried out on a voluntary basis by members of The Trust.  These figures have been scrutinised and approved by the Department of Education.

Admissions are being managed by Reading Borough Council, in the same way as for other local primaries.  You can download a copy of The Heights’ Admissions Policy here.  The council manages the waiting list on behalf of the school.

Parents wishing to apply for a place in Year 1 should do so by completing the form available at www.theheightsprimary.co.uk/transfers.

It is a requirement of the Schools Admissions Code that all schools agree a Published Admissions Number (PAN).  The PAN for The Heights for 2015 is 50 children into Reception.  We are not allowed to change this.  There may be a case in future years to expand available places but this would be subject to a formal consultation.

Reading Council identified the need for an additional 60 primary place in North Reading, based upon data which The Heights Primary School team do not have access too.  As part of the bid process the team had to demonstrate sufficient demand for a new school within the defined catchment area.  To achieve this a survey was set up, which was completed by 362 respondents.  Part of this survey was to ask parents if they would choose The Heights for their child(ren), including whether they would potentially transfer their children already in primary school.  Based upon the childrens’ dates of birth, we were able to identify how many children would potentially attend The Heights and in which year.  The data indicated that the following children would potentially attend in 2014: 58 children into Reception; 52 children into Year 1 and 23 children into Year 3.  The data also showed that 67 children would potentially enter Reception in 2015.  At the consultation meeting a map was briefly shown, indicating the postcodes where these parents lived.  It is not possible to share this data as to do so would enable individual households to be identified.

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) have asked Reading Borough Council to carry out a public consultation to help them identify a permanent home for the Heights Primary School. When complete the Council will pass all consultation data to the EFA who will select a location.  You can access the survey at the following website and view the full Information Pack issued by the EFA: http://beta.reading.gov.uk/schoolsite

Previously, the Heights carried out a formal consultation on whether the community felt the Trust should enter into an agreement with the Secretary of State to open.  This process was carried out in accordance with Section 10 of the Academies Act 2010 and included an online survey and a consultation event in January 2014.  A summary of the report submitted to the Secretary of State can be found here.

In addition a large survey was carried out over winter of 2012/13 to gauge interest in the school. This included asking whether parents would send their children to The Height and whether they supported our vision.  The results of the survey formed the Evidence of Demand section of the bid, which was submitted to the Department for Education.  In October 2013 the Trust held a Family Fun and Information Day and have actively sought to engage with the community as much as possible, both as individuals and as a group.  This included attending several local Christmas fayres and fetes.

Free Schools are defined by government as “state-funded schools set up in response to what local people say they want and need in order to improve education for children in their community”. It is an academy school which is free from local authority control, with funding going direct from the Department of Education to the school. To secure funding the community must outline in detail their proposals for the school and be able to demonstrate demand. They are not without controversy, but in the case of The Heights Primary, it is only being set up as a Free School because it’s the most effective way of providing a conventional two form entry Primary School capable of meeting the demand for places in North Reading and the high standards set by other schools in the area. It has been done with the full support of Reading Borough Council.

The Heights will be subject to Ofsted inspections just like any other school.  We had to pass a Pre-Opening inspection by Ofsted to ensure the school, it’s procedures and curriculum were firmly in place.

Yes, the Heights will be an Academy School.

No, we are not a faith school.  Children of all denominations are welcome to attend The Heights Primary and we will teach religious education in line with the national curriculum.

The Shadow Education Secretary said a few months ago that Labour would keep all good free schools open.  Free schools are state funded schools just like other academies. There are about 3,500 state funded academies in the country now, representing about 10% of all primaries and over half of all secondary schools.  It is very unlikely, even if a new Government decided to change the legal arrangements for academies, they would close them down.

Reading Borough Council, a Labour administration, has supported The Heights from the outset.

The selection of sites for Free Schools is made by the Education Funding Agency (EFA). Consultation with the local authority is limited on the actual choice to ensure the land can be acquired at market value. That said, the criteria for site selection was set with reference to the catchment area which was agreed with input from the Council.  Members of the Trust approved the site, once the EFA confirmed that it would be a viable location for the school.

The Heights Primary School opened temporarily on the site of the old Caversham Nursery, just off the Gosbrook Road.

The Education Funding Agency has  now completed the purchase of a development site for its permanent home from 2016.  After an exhaustive search of over 40 public and privately owned sites in the Caversham Heights and Mapledurham area, a development site known as Highridge has been acquired on Upper Warren Avenue.  This site is less than half a mile from the centre of the school’s catchment.

Ultimately it is the EFA’s responsibility to ensure the school gains planning consent or an alternative site is found. However to have been given approval to commit public funds to purchase Highridge, the EFA will have been required to demonstrate that the planning policy case in support was sufficiently robust to justify any risk associated with buying the site.

The DfE doesn’t fund speculative design work on sites acquired by the EFA. However the EFA undertook a technical assessment of the site and confirmed that it was capable of supporting all our accommodation requirements, with the addition of using nearby Mapledurham Playing Fields for sporting activities.  It was on this basis that the Trust were happy to accept Highridge as the permanent site for the school.

Sport is high on the government agenda which is evident in the additional funding being given to schools for this purpose. As a former PE teacher, Headteacher Karen Edwards is pushing the Education Funding Agency for as much space as possible to ensure we can offer high quality sports opportunities for our children.  It is anticipated that if Highridge does become the permanent home for The Heights, some sport will be played on Mapledurham Playing Fields.

Headteacher Karen Edwards has experience of promoting walking to school.  At her former school in Henley, she carried out some heavy campaigning to get a crossing installed, as well as promoting alternatives such as parents joining together, walking buses and arranging for cars to be parked further away from the school. There are all sorts of things that can be set up but there needs to be some creativity and for the community to work together.

We appreciate that the location of our temporary site makes it very unlikely that children from the north of our catchment will be able to walk to school.  However, our permanent site, on Upper Warren Avenue is within walking distance of around two thirds of the catchment area.

Given the site’s location beyond our catchment boundary we have worked closely with The Heights Parent, Teachers and Friends Association to understand what support parents will need to make the journey as easy as possible. We have created a flexible drop off window in the morning and are currently subsidizing  our breakfast and after school clubs to help working parents overcome the issue of commuting.

If you are interested in being involved with the project now, then please email info@theheightsprimary.co.uk outlining your specific area of interest.  We have also set up The Friends of The Heights, our informal PTA.  All members of the community are welcome to get involved with this group and should email the group at friends@theheightsprimary.co.uk.

in 2013, we consulted with the community on what colours our uniform should be.  Of the four choices offered, there was overwhelming support for the uniform to be navy with red detail.  Full details of our uniform can be found here and picture of the children wearing their uniforms can be seen on our home page.

Yes, we have a breakfast club from 7.30am and an afterschool club until 6pm.  This is currently provided by Energykidz.

Yes, we are delighted to have been able to secure a very experienced and highly respected Headteacher.  Karen has been in education for 23 years and spent the last 7 years as Headteacher at Sacred Heart Catholic Primary School in Henley-upon-Thames.

Whilst it is not a requirement that free schools employ qualified teachers, all teachers at The Heights will be suitably qualified and experienced.

Yes, we will be teaching the National Curriculum.  We want The Heights Primary to be the same as the other outstanding schools in the area and simply want to ensure that all children can be educated in the same way but with the benefit of attending a school within their community.

Headteacher Karen Edwards met all the local pre-schools and nurseries, in preparation for children starting Reception in 2014.  The Heights also held an induction day in the summer, where she and her team were able to get to know parents and their children.  A similar programme will be developed for children starting in 2015.

The Free School set-up budget is surprisingly generous and we are demonstrating that we have the resources to provide first class education. For instance within our IT spend we are planning to have a minimum of 25 PCs for pupils to allow 1:1 pupil to computer ratio during ICT lessons and a further 60 tablets to aid interactive learning in the classroom, with age appropriate educational software, which will be available from first opening. The excellent IT infrastructure that we will be able to put in place will form the backbone to teaching and learning within the school, and staff and pupils will have access to a range of future-proofed ICT tools to stimulate exploration and enquiry, encourage curiosity and creativity and ensure each child is equipped with the right skills in our ever evolving technological world. We have also invested in books, sport, music and play equipment.

The Heights has a very active Parent Teacher and Friends Association (PTFA) who have raised nearly £5,000 so far this year.  PTFAs often raise money for things that aren’t core but are nice to have.  Children will soon be benefiting from new awnings allowing us to maximise the limited space available on the temporary site, whatever the weather!

The Heights Primary School Academy Trust was originally founded by four Caversham parents, quickly joined by other like minded members of the community to form an eight strong group of members, heavily supported by volunteer specialists in all of the disciplines required. Individual steering groups chaired by the trust members are responsible for all of the key functions required to establish an outstanding new Primary School. The group was required to successfully bid for funding from the Department of Education, which hinged on (amongst other criteria) the capabilities and capacity of the Trust and all it’s supporters. It passed with flying colours in large part down to the fantastic support the Trust has received from across the community.

No. Any surplus will be invested back in to the school for the benefit of the students.

We have appointed Nick Walden as our Chair of Governors.  Nick was a governor at a local secondary school for 11 years, including 8 years as the Chair of Governors.  Further details on the Trust’s Governing Body can be found here.

One of the key aspects of the Trust’s bid for funding from the Department for Education was an assessment of the group’s “Capacity and Capability” to set up the school. This involved an audit of the groups skills and experience, which concluded that the range of skills across the group and its supporters was more than sufficient. In addition to the members of the community, the Department for Education allocated a team of advisers and consultants with expert experience in all the key areas to assist the group where required. Procurement of the buildings, IT and learning materials is managed and funded by the Education Funding Agency.

The Trust and its community advisers are working together on a completely voluntary basis.  Whilst the majority of the Trust have children that they hope to attend the school,  the remainder simply seeking to give something back to the community. None of the money awarded to the group by the Department of Education will be awarded to members of the Trust to pay for the benefit of their time or experience.  In addition children of Trustees will not receive any preferential treatment regarding admissions to The Heights.

Absolutely not. The admissions process is run by Reading Borough Council and details of how places are awarded are outlined within the Admissions Policy.  Any children of members of the Trust will be considered against exactly the same criteria as anyone else. It was possible for the group to award special status to founder member’s children but this would have gone entirely against the principles of the school being set up for the community and so was not taken up.