According to information released by the campaigning group Sweat (the South West Enfield Action Team) and the Grovelands Residents Association, Enfield Council has stated that it will definitely be providing an additional 60 primary school places from September 2014 to help plug the gap in primary places for children in Southgate, Winchmore Hill and parts of Palmers Green - in particular on the Lakes Estate.
Grovelands school concept: area A belongs to Thames Water; area B is the Park; area C is the site of the planned schoolFor the first two years the extra two-form entry capacity will be provided by leasing existing buildings at an undisclosed location. From September 2016 the new classes will relocate to a permanent site. The Council's preferred location for the new school is adjacent to Grovelands Park, on Council-owned land close to the Priory hospital. Current plans envisage a car drop-off area off the Bourne.
The new school will probably be of conventional single-storey, non-modular design - the Council had previously been considering a "buried building" concept.
Factors which might prevent use of the Grovelands Park site are the results of a Historic Parks Survey, due to be completed in late March, the content of various convenants relating to Grovelands, and traffic and transport considerations. Should the Grovelands option prove unfeasible, the Council has an undisclosed alternative plan.
As current rules prevent local authorities from opening new council-run schools, the new capacity will have to operate as part of an existing council primary school - it is not known which school this will be.
The Grovelands Residents Association, which has concerns about the impact of a school near the park, has suggested that an alternative might be the former Minchenden School in Southgate town centre, currently owned by Southgate College, but now redundant. In view of the fact that Enfield Council has commissioned a valuation of this site, it appears that its purchase for school provision is being considered.
In addition to the new two-form entry school, it appears that plans for a new primary school in Southgate belonging to Ashmole Academy are going ahead. However, Enfield Council considers that the school will be too far away from the Lakes Estate.
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