'Outstanding' Calderdale school seeks permission for temporary two storey building for extra teaching space

Late last year, councillors heard the borough is facing a special needs and disabilities education – SEND – crisis, with Ravenscliffe High School headteacher Chris Lingard outlining the constant pressure on places at the school, which were expecting to increase year on year.

The school is applying for permission to put the two-storey building at its Spring Hall, Huddersfield Road, Halifax, site – a temporary approval for two years.

According to supporting statements by manufacturers Portakabin, who are agents for the proposal submitted to Calderdale Council, the “on hire” building will provide much needed teaching space while a traditional new-build project is ongoing to help the school expand to meet increasing demand for places.

The statements explain Ravenscliffe High School has long term plans to expand the main building at Spring Hall, pending planning approval and construction.

If approved, the portable building will be installed in the southern area of the college site, on a hard standing area where a previous temporary modular building, now removed, was located.

Portakabin say in the statement: “This temporary accommodation will facilitate Ravenscliffe’s expected uptake in student numbers in the meantime, until a long term solution can be fulfilled.

“The development has been assessed and will not increase the risk of flooding on or around the site during its lifetime.

“Following a series of feasibility studies, the only available option was to place Portakabin buildings within the curtilage of the school site, with the proposed location being the most feasible.”

The application – number 24/00687/FUL – can be viewed on Calderdale Council’s Planning Portal.

Late last year, Ms Lingard told the council’s Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Board the school might need an additional hundreds of additional places in coming years.

“The local authority is telling us its a worse situation than even I anticipated – this is a very, very serious situation and we’re already way over capacity,” she said.

It put huge pressure on staff and space such as storage and dining areas, and there was not enough room as a result to, for example, give children who had extreme behaviour the space they needed.

“Everything is stretched beyond capacity.

“Our ‘outstanding’ status will not be able to remain much longer if we were inspected again because we are so overcrowded,” said Ms Lingard.