Expansion of Bilston school approved as demand for places rises

Ormiston SWB Academy will be expanding its site in Dudley Street, Bilston, by adding more classrooms in preparation for an extra 150 pupils joining the school at the start of the next school year.

More than 100 children missed out on a place at the Bilston school this year because they could not be accommodated.

A report by the the City of Wolverhampton Council’s planning officers who approved the work said: “The proposed building will provide essential additional teacher and classroom spaces which will assist with the school being able to meet the educational needs of local people.

“The proposals include for satisfactory provision of additional car parking and appropriate facilities for pupil, staff and visitor drop off.”

Ormiston Academies Trust, which runs more than 40 schools across the country including several in the Black Country and Birmingham, said it plans to build five new classrooms at the Bilston site including new IT and business facilities as well as upgrade the school’s existing design and technology workshop and build an extra science lab in the main school building.

The school plans to increase each year group from 200 to 230 pupils for the 2025/6 school year.

A statement included with the application said: “This project is essential for the academy and the wider community. At present, a large number of 11-year-olds who live in Bilston and the surrounding areas cannot attend a school in their community. The academy’s current September 2024 intake alone meant 101 children have not been offered a place at the academy, as they had hoped. Due to the increased popularity and reputation within the city, the academy has been approached to support this.”

The school is planning to build the single-storey block on its existing drop-off zone at the front of the main building in Dudley Street.

A statement included with the application said the drop-off point was being moved to the opposite side of the school in Prosser Street next off the busy Black Country Route.

The block would be built on an existing drop-off zone in Dudley Street.

The school said it would be reverting to its original planned drop-off area on the opposite side of the school grounds next to the busy Black Country Route. The relocation, it is hoped, would bring an end to traffic and congestion problems and illegal parking in Dudley Street at the start and end of the school day.

“The space [in Prosser Street] is larger to accommodate more parents and removes traffic from the highly populated Dudley Street, which is also used by Loxdale Primary School, Bert Williams Leisure Centre and Bilston Urban Village Health Centre – which is also being redeveloped and made larger,” a statement included with the application said.

“Re-location of the drop-off area is also safer for students due to a number of cars parking/dropping off illegally on Dudley Street which makes crossing the road difficult due to restricted lines of sight.”

The school, which opened in 2017, was rated ‘good’ in its last Ofsted inspection in November 2021.