Cardiff Council’s Cabinet will be asked to authorise a public consultation on two potential sites on which to build the new Eastern High School.
The report to Cabinet next week, recommends consulting on building a state of the art 11-16 school alongside post 16 provision.
The two site options are the Cardiff and Vale College site on Trowbridge Road in Rumney and the site of the former Llanrumney High School on Ball Road, Llanrumney. The new school would replace the existing facilities for Eastern High, currently located on the site formerly known as Rumney High School, and would establish new post 16 education and training facilities, which would be managed by Cardiff and Vale College.
Cabinet Member for Education and Lifelong Learning, Cllr Julia Magill, said: “We have identified two possible site options for the new high school in the east of the city, which have been shortlisted from an initial list of six potential sites. This is based on a thorough assessment of criteria against each site, including physical and social considerations, access to the sites as well as design, and financial considerations.
“Selecting a suitable site for the new build Eastern High is an important strand of the wider Education Improvement Partnership (EIP) which focuses on improving quality in teaching and learning as well as leadership and the quality of the learning environment for those attending the school.”
As part of the scoring exercise, the former Rumney High School site was ruled out for a number of reasons. It’s important that the new Eastern High School site has the potential to expand to 11 Forms of Entry and accommodate post 16 provision. The site that is chosen will need to have access to off site playing fields facilities, which is likely to prove problematic as there is no available land in close proximity to the former Rumney High School site which would be suitable.
It is considered that on the basis of concerns around lack of available land for playing field facilities and the net cost of construction being in excess of resources available, the consultation should be based on the Cardiff and Vale College site and the Llanrumney High school sites as the only suitable options.
Cllr Magill continued, “Driving up standards in education across the city is a priority for us and delivering a new high school in a suitable location, alongside post-16 provision is part of that aspiration. We want to provide the best possible learning opportunities, and a state-of-the-art new high school will transform those opportunities for local children as we seek to address performance levels, attendance and outcomes for young people.”
