Funding worth £4.7m to create extra school places

A renovation scheme worth millions of pounds is set to create extra places at four schools.

North Northamptonshire Council said schools in Rushden, Kettering and Oundle would benefit from the £4.7m funding pot.

It was supplied by the Department for Education and confirmed at a council meeting on Thursday.

Conservative councillor Scott Edwards said the scheme would help give pupils "the best start in life".

Prince William School in Oundle was awarded the biggest grant at £2.59m to create new provision for pupils with additional needs.

It was hoped the money would pay for a renovation of two blocks, creating 48 spaces and opening in September, the Local Democracy Reporting Service wrote.

The council said there was a need for more secondary school capacity in Kettering, as it granted £561,000 to Latimer Arts College.

An extra 49 places across years 7, 8 and 9 will be opened up by the money, with work to increase the size of dining areas also planned.

Further cash was handed to Alfred Lord Tennyson School in Rushden, which formed in 2023 when Tennyson Road Infants and Alfred Street Juniors were amalgamated.

The new school was given £925,000 to help ensure its combined site was ready from September 2025.

Rowan Gate, a special school which occupies part of the former Tennyson Road Infants site, was allocated £626,000 to renovate and take over the entire facility.

It followed reviews by the local authority finding there was an "urgent" need for extra special educational needs and disabilities spaces.

Rowan Gate said it needed extra space to meet its pupil demands from September, with work beginning over the summer holiday.

Edwards, the councillor responsible for children, families and education, told the meeting the funding was "vital".

He added: "The most exciting thing about this is it's a blueprint, so this is going to be the first of four across the region.

"We are working with our most vulnerable children within this, those children who are deserving of an education and those children who need to have the best start in life as well."

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