Questions and answers
1. What discussions have taken place with the Roman Catholic Diocese since the last proposals were consulted on?
Following the previous consultation officers of the Local Authority have met with the Bishop of Salford and representatives of the Roman Catholic Diocese on a number of occasions. Both the Local Authority and the Roman Catholic Diocese have agreed these proposals which involve all four Roman Catholic high schools.
2. Why not keep all four schools the same size and just refurbish the existing buildings?
BSF is a nationwide programme. The government's intention for the programme is to create ‘transformational change' leading to inspiring buildings to support the education of our children and their communities for the future. If we spend money just on upgrading current building stock, we will only achieve superficial change to school buildings. This in turn will not allow education to keep moving forward into the 21st Century. This level of transformation will also not be acceptable to central government because it would not achieve the central purpose of BSF, therefore funding would not be approved.
Building a new school will enable pupils, staff, governors and the local community to input into the design of an outstanding new school with state-of-the-art facilities for learning, teaching, socialising and sport.
3. Where will the new school be located?
The new school building will be located on part of the site currently occupied by Oasis Academy which is the former Hope High School site on Eccles Old Road. The original plan to locate the school in the Pendleton Regeneration area has been revised in response to feedback from the previous consultation.
4. Why not build a replacement school on the existing All Hallows site?
The existing site is too small and it would be very difficult to build a new school on the existing site and continue to operate the current school at the same time. The former Hope High School site offers far more opportunities and flexibility to All Hallows RC High School in the short and longer term.
5. How much is the new school going to cost?
Across the city we are planning to invest £150 million to transform our secondary schools, providing eight new school buildings. We anticipate spending approximately £16.4 million on the rebuilding of All Hallows RC High School. The programme will also include nearly £17 million of investment in computer and communications technology across all of the city's high schools.
6. How many pupils will the school accommodate?
On the basis of current pupil projections in the Roman Catholic sector, we are proposing that All Hallows RC High School remains a 600 place school. However, we will design the school so that we can add extra capacity in the future, if it is required.
7. Why is this proposal linked to the proposals for other Roman Catholic High Schools?
The Roman Catholic sector proposals are all linked financially and in respect of pupil numbers. Therefore if the decision to close St George's RC High School is not approved, all the Roman Catholic School proposals will require revision.
8. What are the timescales for the project?
The new school is planned to open in September 2012.
9. How can my views be represented?
When a council wishes to make major changes to a school, they are required to follow a legally defined process, which includes opportunities for all interested parties to make comments and objections.
You now have an opportunity to comment on the city council's proposals. Following the consultation, officers from Salford City Council will analyse all responses and report back to the council's Cabinet. If the Cabinet decides to continue with the proposals, a statutory notice will be published. This will give all interested parties a further six weeks to make comments and objections. All responses will then be reported to the city council's Cabinet, which is the local decision maker.
This page was last updated on 3 February 2012
