The purpose of the Additional School Accommodation (ASA) scheme is to ensure that essential mainstream classroom and Special Education Needs (SEN) accommodation is available to cater for pupils enrolled each year, where the need cannot be met by the school’s existing accommodation.
In considering applications, my Department analyses the relevant demographic data in a way that takes account of the significant local and regional variations in demographic trends and enrolment projections across 314 school planning areas (SPAs).
Using school planning area boundaries within my Department’s Geographic Information System (GIS) allows data within those boundaries, including data for enrolments in schools, child benefit and other relevant data to be added to the mapping information, grouped and analysed.
The school planning areas are used in the demographic exercise as a basis for the assessment of areas of growth and to inform recommendations on both applications under the ASA scheme and for the establishment of any new schools required in that school planning area. In urban areas, in particular, data relating to adjacent school planning areas is also used to inform our consideration of requirements.
