The Isles of Scilly Local Education Authority has been allocated funding from the Department for Children, School and Families for a new school base as part of the national Building Schools for the Future Pathfinder Scheme. The new school base will be on St Mary's. The school will teach children from 3 - 16 years and construction will have to be completed by September 2011. This exciting project provides a once in a lifetime opportunity for a new school that will benefit the Islands' children for generations to come.

The Planning Department of the Council of the Isles of Scilly has undertaken a SWOT analysis of six potential locations for the school looking at both planning and sustainability issues. The preferred location for the new school is the land adjacent to the Primary School at Carn Gwaval.

The formal governance structure for the project has been based on the industry standard Prince 2 (Projects in a Controlled Environment) model. The project will be overseen by an executive group - the Project Board - which will be the main decision making group. The Project Board is supported by an Advisory Group and a Community Consultative Group.

A series of community consultation events have been planned to find out what the community wants to see and do in the new school, see below.

A draft development brief has been prepared for the development of a new School Base on St Mary's. The purpose of this draft development brief is to provide a detailed spatial planning framework to guide the development of a new school on St Mary's in a comprehensive and coordinated manner.

The draft development brief identifies the information and survey work required to progress the project either prior to or as part of the submission of a detailed planning application. The draft development brief identifies the main requirements, together with the opportunities and constraints, to ensure that the new school meets the highest educational, environmental and sustainable standards possible.

The draft development brief supplements the policies and proposals contained in the Local Plan. The development brief will be identified within the revised Local Development Scheme and once adopted will have the status of a Supplementary Planning Document. Consequently, the development brief will form part of the Isles of Scilly Local Development Framework.

In accordance with Government guidance set out in Planning Policy Statement 12: Local Development Frameworks, the draft development brief has been subject to a sustainability appraisal.

The draft development brief and sustainability appraisal can be downloaded here or are available for public inspection at the Planning and Development Department in the Old Wesleyan Chapel, St Mary's, St Mary's Library and the Community Halls and Reading Rooms on each of the inhabited off-islands.

Comments should be made on the form provided and emailed to planning@scilly.gov.uk or sent to the Planning and Development Department, Old Wesleyan Chapel, Garrison Lane, St Mary's TR21 0JD to be received no later than 4.30 pm on Friday 23rd May 2008. All comments that are returned on time and relevant to the draft development brief will be considered by the Council before being adopted as a Supplementary Planning Document.

The three current off-island school bases and Mundesley will be unaffected by the proposal to build a new school on St. Marys.

These pages will be updated as the project progresses.

If you wish to express a view or comment on the project please email newschoolbuild@scilly.gov.uk

Below are links to other useful sites.
Building Schools for the Future
Department for Children Families and Schools
Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment

• Council of the Isles of Scilly
• Town Hall
• St Mary's
• Isles of Scilly
• TR21 0LW
• Tel: 01720 422537
• Fax: 01720 422202
• Email: enquiries@scilly.gov.uk >

• Tell us your change of address
• Planning information and planning applications
• Link to DirectGov
• Weather Forecast from the BBC
• For documents in PDF format, download the Adobe Acrobat Reader free