The Governing Body is embarking upon a consultation with respect to the possibility of submitting a bid to the Selective School Expansion Fund.
You may be aware that the government has made available £50 million to be allocated to grammar schools as part of this fund. The purpose of the fund is to support the expansion of selective schools where:
there is a need for additional places, both in terms of a shortfall of secondary places in the local area and a demand from parents for more selective places; and
schools have ambitious and realistic plans for increasing access for disadvantaged pupils (by which we mean pupils eligible for the pupil premium), and
they have plans to work with other local schools to increase access for disadvantaged pupils and to raise attainment.
If the school is successful in its application to the DfE, we will use the bid monies to create additional classrooms and specialist spaces. Whilst continuing with our stated strategy of prioritising Pupil Premium students who meet the school’s admissions criteria, running familiarisation sessions and further extending our outreach programme, the additional facilities would also allow us to:
Increase the intake in Year 7 from 145 up to 180 with effect from 2020; and
Increase the intake in Year 12 from 135 to 165 with effect from 2020.
This presents an exciting opportunity to widen access to our school by providing more opportunities for more girls to join us, whilst meeting an increasing need for places across the city. In addition, it offers a way of further enhacing our facilities for our existing students. The school is always looking to the future and considering ways in which our provision can be extended and we believe that this presents an opportunity for the school to further develop but within the context of retaining our much loved traditions.
We welcome your feedback on our proposals by Tuesday 31st July at 9am by email to SSEF@wghs.org.uk For further information please click here.