Steve Brine visited the new Lower School at The Westgate School on Friday 26th June to see how the facility will continue to grow.
The new lower school opened in September 2014, and provides 420 places. Currently there are 60 Reception Year children, and as the years progress, moving up the years, the places will continue to fill.
The visit comes after Steve Brine's key £10m 'school places' campaign in the last Parliament, when Winchester saw an acute shortage of places at primary stage. The MP worked closely with the local education sector and Hampshire County Council, and as well as the expansion of several primary schools across Winchester, this new 'all-through' school, adding primary provision to the established secondary school opened its doors last September.
Steve said: "I am so thrilled at what is happening at The Westgate School. The primary school places campaign was one of the biggest things I did in the last Parliament and it was badly needed given the lack of places in the city just a few years ago. The response has been incredible from Hampshire County Council and the local education sector. We've new places across the area as existing schools have expanded and we've the new Westgate which is Hampshire first all-through 3-16 school.
"To visit this morning, with Paul Nicholson the excellent Executive Headteacher, and see it as a reality meant a great deal to me and it really is stunning. The design is of the highest quality and you can sense the pride existing pupils and staff, from across the upper and lower school, feel at their new venture. The young people attending this school as it fills up over the next few years are really very lucky."
With Barton Farm due to come online on the next few years, Steve teamed up with the University of Winchester, who will run the new Barton Farm Academy. Plans are well underway, and Steve Brine is a governor of the new school, which will serve children from 4-11.
Pictured; Steve Brine and Paul Nicholson join students at the school
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FLASHBACK Steve's Primary School Places campaign
