Planning permission for the temporary home of King’s Leadership in Wavertree is expected to be granted next week
The new school buildings in Wavertree
The opening of temporary buildings put up to welcome hundreds of students at Liverpool’s newest school is expected to be signed off by the city council weeks after the autumn term has begun. Earlier this year, King’s Leadership Academy Wavertree confirmed it would finally welcome an initial cohort of Year 7 students from September after being beset by delays.
In a bid to meet the demand for school places across the city, it had been proposed that Kings Leadership open its fifth site in 2024. With planning permission only being granted for the change of use from office buildings earlier this year, the opening date was pushed back until this autumn.
Now Liverpool Council’s planning committee is expected to rubber stamp the opening of a series of temporary buildings to house around 200 pupils at the site on Wavertree Technology Park. It is thought the school will eventually provide 1,050 places for students aged 11 to 16 when work is completed.
Confusion reigned over whether the date could be met amid a wait for Department for Education (DfE) officials to agree a funding settlement for the new school. An initial tranche of 210 pupils started their next phase of education at the start of the new school year on September 4.
It was revealed in March how new plans were submitted to Liverpool Council for temporary buildings to be set up on the site of the former Sony offices on Rathbone Way to get learners on site in time for the start of term. City councillors will now run the rule over the plans formally.
The new school buildings in Wavertree
Full planning permission is sought for the two-storey modular school building and associated works for a temporary period of four years. The modular school building essentially comprises two linked structures consisting of a single-storey main hall/dining room and a two-storey teaching block.
The building is located to the east of the existing L-shaped office building which occupies the plot.
In visual terms, the building is utilitarian with a flat roof and simple palette of materials with grey walls, windows and doors.
The former PlayStation building earmarked for the school could subsequently be demolished to make way for the new facility, having been deemed unviable for educational purposes.
Children were invited to break ground on the new site as funding was confirmed
It is projected that the new school building will open in 2028. King’s Wavertree is the fifth secondary school in the Great Schools Trust.
The Trust has two secondary schools in Merseyside, King’s Liverpool in Dingle and King’s Hawthornes in Bootle alongside two primary schools including King’s Northway in Wavertree and King’s Lander in Litherland.