Overview
We are consulting on proposed changes to the size of our school.
Birmingham City Council have approached Ark Victoria with a proposal to permanently expand the size of our secondary school year groups from 168 to 180 students. There is significant pressure on secondary school places across the city – which is predicted to increase over the coming years - resulting in some children being placed in schools some distance from their home. Ark Victoria is a popular school and is often oversubscribed in Year 7 – and we are keen to support the local authority and our local families by providing additional secondary school places.
In order to support this growth we need to increase the capacity of our school by making some physical changes to our school facilities. In particular, we need to significantly increase our dining space and WC provision on the secondary site which was originally designed for secondary year groups of 150. To accommodate this, we will move our nursery to the primary site at Oldknow Road, and extend our secondary dining hall and WC provision into the vacated nursery space. We will also make some modifications to our teaching classrooms.
Siting the nursery at Oldknow Road brings all of the school’s early years provision onto one site which is beneficial for pupils, staff and parents – and makes for a smoother transition from nursery into primary. These works will involve the remodelling of existing classrooms into a free flow space, enhancing the WC provision, and relocating the dedicated outdoor space.
Whereas our secondary school is oversubscribed, our primary school is undersubscribed and has been for a number of years. We therefore want to reduce the PAN which applies in the Reception year from 90 to 60 in order to ensure we are responding to local demographic changes – and the local authority is supportive of this change. We want to stress that no current primary school pupil will need to move schools; the proposed change will only reduce the number of Reception pupils we accept from the next academic year (26/27).
To summarise: we are consulting on:
- Increasing our secondary capacity to accommodate more pupils. The increase will involve places being available for 180 pupils into year 7.
- Decreasing our primary school capacity to respond to local demographic changes. This will involve a reduction of 30 places in Reception from September 2026 onwards.
The consultation will run from Friday 11th July to Friday 1st August. At the end of this period, a report will be submitted to the Department for Education, who will make the final decision. We hope to receive a final decision in the autumn.
The consultation process is open to our whole community. Your views on this matter are very important, and we want to ensure you have a say in the decision-making process.
You can respond to the consultation in various ways. We welcome your feedback via the online response form (below), or you can pick up and return a hard copy of the form from our reception at Ark Victoria Academy. If you would like to arrange an in-person meeting to discuss the proposal, please email info@arkvictoria.org
Questions and Answers
How long will the consultation last and who will make the final decision?
The consultation will last for three weeks - from Friday 11th July – Friday 1st August. At the end of the consultation, we will collect responses and produce a report which we will then send to the Department for Education, who will make the final decision on the application. We hope to have a decision by mid-October 2025.
What facilities will the new nursery space have?
The new nursery be have large open indoor spaces (as it currently has) – with new WCs which are visible/accessible directly from the classroom. We will also be investing heavily in the outdoor play areas.
Where will the nursery be moved to in the school?
The nursery will be moved to our Oldknow Road site. This brings together our entire early years provision, which will provide a much smoother transition from nursery into primary school.
Will there be building works? Will my/my child’s education be disrupted?
There will be some works required to make the space suitable. At secondary, we will need to create new WCs and extend the dining hall to accommodate a higher volume of pupils. At Oldknow Road, we will need to knock through some walls to create a free flow space for the nursery. The majority of these works will take over the summer break so there will be limited impact during term time – and there will be no disruption to pupils’ education.
Is the school losing any resources or spaces by doing this?
No, any spaces which are being repurposed will be reprovisioned elsewhere within the school.
Who is funding the works?
Birmingham City Council is funding the the works.
Is money being spent on this proposal which could be spent elsewhere in the school?
No, Birmingham City Council have set aside funding to increase capacity of schools in order to meet their duty to provide a school place for every child in our city. If we did not go ahead with this proposal, we would not receive the funding to spend on something else.
What does this mean for admissions and student numbers? What changes will be made to the admissions policy?
Our admissions policy will change to reflect the increase of numbers at secondary, and the decrease at primary. From September 2026 there will be 60 places available in Reception, and 180 in Year 7.
Birmingham City Council is supportive of this proposal. We want to stress that no current primary school pupil will need to move schools; these changes would only reduce the number of pupils we accept into the Reception cohort from September 2026 onwards.