STATEMENT FROM MRS LAURA O'BRIEN, CHAIR OF GOVERNORS AT ST PAUL'S CATHOLIC SCHOOL

Our primary concern as a governing body has always been to secure enough land to meet our immediate requirements in terms of outdoor play space and also provide sufficient land for future expansion of built facilities. With this in mind we have purchased the whole of the playing fields to the rear of both St Paul's School and Leicester Grammar Junior School (LGJS).
Recent progress on Building Schools for the Future (BSF) leads us to conclude we can develop an excellent school within BSF. We expect the planning phase on the development of St Paul's to start in January 2010, subject to official Leicester City Council ratification.
We will be organising a meeting for parents and other interested parties in early December, following City Council ratification, to provide further details of the BSF plan for St Paul's. We will announce further details about this meeting closer to the time.
Although we are confident about the future of St Paul's School within the framework of BSF we are still actively pursuing all avenues with a view to acquiring the whole of the LGJS site; this would enable us to establish a major educational and community centre as we have always hoped.