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.