Expanding St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School
Consultation on the proposal to establish a new school building for St Richard Gwyn High school and increase its capacity from 813 places to 1,050 places from September 2025
Introduction to the proposal
The proposal is to establish a new school building for St Richard Gwyn High school and increase its capacity from 813 places to 1,050 places. The proposal will also include a 60 place specialist resource base. It is proposed that St Richard Gwyn High school would move into the new building by September 2025.
Although transferring the school to the new building is included as part of this consultation, the new school will be located on the existing school site. The new school building will be in the south-west corner of the school grounds, thus allowing the existing school to remain operational during construction. The Vale of Glamorgan Council have a duty to ensure that the current school can run effectively during the construction period and have experience of doing so on a number of other sites.
The proposed development will be funded by the Welsh Government and Vale of Glamorgan Council under the Sustainable Communities for Learning programme.
The governing body and the Archdiocese of Cardiff at St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School and the Council are committed to ensuring that consultations are meaningful, relevant, and appropriate for the communities that are involved. We have a duty of care to ensure that proposals are clear, transparent, and reflective of those affected. This is a vision that can only be realised by working in partnership with schools, governors, parents, and the wider communities we all serve.
This consultation gives you the opportunity to ask questions and make comments that will be considered when the Governing Body decides how to proceed.
Expanding St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School consultation document
Reasons for the proposal
- St Richard Gwyn is the remaining secondary school within the Vale of Glamorgan that has not yet received investment as part of the Sustainable Communities for Learning programme.
- The school has had significant issue with flooding to the current site due to poor drainage in place, Vale of Glamorgan Council have worked with NRW to implement improved drainage systems to avoid risk of flooding in future. The new school building would be located on the same site with the improvement made to the drainage systems before construction takes place.
- The redevelopment of St Richard Gwyn, increasing the number of school places from 813 to 1,050, offers a more efficient and sustainable model than a refurbishment of the current school building.
- The proposal also addresses issues with the existing building, such as condition, suitability, and flooding issues. Pupils would be educated in a high-quality sustainable modern building which would be able to support the delivery of a broad and balanced curriculum.
- The proposal will ensure that the new building will meet modern building standards to reduce recurrent costs and be net zero carbon in operation. The new building will also meet BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) Excellence standards.
Responding to the consultation
The consultation period will run from 5 September 2023 to 17 October 2023.
Your views are important to us, and there are a number of ways that you can respond to the consultation:
- Complete the online response form
- Complete the consultation response form at the end of the consultation document and send to:
Redevelopment and expansion of St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School
Corporate and Customer Services
The Vale of Glamorgan Council
Civic Offices
Holton Road
Barry
CF63 4RU
All responses given to us in writing by 17 October 2023 will be considered before a decision on whether or not to publish a statutory notice.
Consultation Report
On 9th November 2023, the Governing Body considered the consultation response report and all other relevant documentation and determined to proceed to the publication of a statutory notice on the proposal.
The proposal is to establish a new school building for St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School and increase its capacity from 813 places to 1,050 places on the current site. The proposal will also include a 60 place specialist resource base. It is proposed that St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School would move into the new building by September 2025.
If you would like a hard copy of the reports, please contact a member of the Sustainable Communities for Learning Team at: sustainablecommunitiesforlearning@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk
Publication of Statutory Notice to expand St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School
The Governing Body have agreed to publish a statutory notice to expand St Richard Gwyn High School.
The statutory notice and letter are available to download. Hard copies of the notice are available on request by contacting the Learning and Skills Directorate at the contact details below.
In accordance with section 49 of ‘the Act’ any person may object to the proposal before the end of 28 days beginning with the day on which the proposals were published, that is to say by Friday 29 December 2023.
Finding out more
You can download a copy of the consultation document, community impact assessment and letter detailing the proposal.
Decision
On 18th January 2024, the Governing Body of St Richard Gwyn approved the proposal to establish a new school building. As a result of the new building, this would increase its capacity from 813 to 1,050 places and to establish a 60 place specialist resource base from September 2025.
All consultation material including the Decision letter can be viewed below:
If you would like a hard copy of the reports, please contact a member of the Sustainable Communities for Learning Team at: