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Plans to create first of its kind education campus in Cardiff

 

Cardiff Council has put forward plans to build an education campus in Fairwater which would deliver new-build education accommodation for three Cardiff Schools.

 

The Doyle Avenue site is the current home of Cantonian High School. At over 11 hectares, it presents Cardiff Council with an opportunity to build a new Cantonian High School, a new Woodlands Special School and a new Riverbank Special School, on a single campus.

 

Under the plans outlined in a report to be considered by Cardiff Council's Cabinet, Cantonian High School would expand from the current 6 Form Entry to 8 Form Entry, in new facilities  able to accommodate up to 1200 students aged between 11 and 16, plus sixth form.

 

The expansion if implemented would also provide 30 places, in purpose-built accommodation, for a Special Resource Base for students with an Autism Spectrum Condition.

 

Woodlands Special School would be relocated from its current site adjacent to Trelai Park in Caerau into purpose built facilities able to better provide for the needs of its pupils. Capacity would increase from 140 places to 240.

 

Riverbank Special School would also relocate from the site adjacent to Trelai Park, and the new build would allow it to grow from 70 to 140 places in high quality accommodation.

 

Deputy Leader of Cardiff Council, and Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Skills, Cllr Sarah Merry, said: "The Doyle Avenue site gives us an opportunity to consider creating an education campus that would provide new homes for Cantonian, for Woodlands and for Riverbank.

 

"It would allow us to deliver new -build facilities that provides for the schools more efficiently, maximising the benefit of our investment for the children and young people, some of whom are our most vulnerable, with extremely complex education needs.

 

"The current buildings for Cantonian, Woodlands and Riverbank have reached the end of the operational lives, and we need to replace them. A shared campus on the Doyle Avenue site would provide 21stCentury facilities for the students at the three schools, and it would allow us to meet the projected increase in demand for secondary school places in the area and the increasing demand for complex education needs provision."

 

The proposals being put forward in the Cabinet Report would be subject to public consultation and planning.

 

A full copy of the report is available to view online atwww.cardiff.gov.uk/meetings. Cabinet will meet to consider the recommendations contained in the report on Thursday, December 13.