New primary school for Waterlooville

A new primary school is set to be built on the outskirts of Waterlooville.

Hampshire County Council has submitted plans for a new community primary school to the east of Newlands Lane, between Purbrook and Denmead.

The new primary school is intended to complement the Berewood development to the west of Waterlooville, with 11 classrooms, SEN / parent rooms, a library and IT learning resource centre.

Key stage one will have the ground floor classrooms and key stage two will learn upstairs.

Councillor Roz Chadd, Hampshire County Council’s executive lead member for children’s services, said: ‘The county council is committed to ensuring that families in Hampshire have access to good, local schools.

‘With more than 2,600 homes to be built at the Berewood Estate development in Waterlooville, two primary schools have been planned to serve the families who will be moving into these new homes.

‘The first school, Berewood Primary School, was built by Hampshire County Council’s award-winning property services team in the northern part of the estate, and opened in 2017. The school is operated by University of Chichester Academy Trust.

‘Looking forward and pending the necessary approvals, a new 315-place primary school will be built by the county council in the southern part the of estate, and is anticipated to open in autumn 2024, subject to housing completions.’

An academy trust will be chosen by the council to manage the school, and it is hoped that a music and drama studio can be built later down the line.

In the meantime, a food tech / science classroom will feature on the ground floor, with children able to make use of the vast open spaces on school grounds.

Footpaths and a public bus route are expected to provide access to the school, although there will be no car park for parents.

The access and planning support statement reads: ‘It is anticipated that these spaces will provide any potential academy the flexibility to support community use to suit their management approach.

‘The school will operate typical hours of use, however if the school management utilise the facilities for additional community use these opening hours may extend into early evening or weekend, providing such facilities locally is seen as a benefit to the community.

‘There is extensive ongoing development to the east of the site where the west of Waterlooville major development area is currently under construction. The proposed school at the application site will ultimately serve this major development.’

Currently, there is no indication of when this application will go before the council for approval.