Plans Shelved for New College Primary School Development

New College Swindon had initially been encouraged to develop a bid for a free school that offered continuous, all through education for pupils from the ages of 4 to 19. However, after several weeks of consultation meetings with local education leaders the project will no longer go ahead.

After receiving new updated information regarding projected demand and capacity, New College decided to purely focus on a secondary school bid with post-16 provision for children aged 11 to 18.  

Because existing primary schools have increased their entry numbers and a new school will open at Tadpole this September, there are currently sufficient primary school places available in North Swindon. 

If New College's free school bid is successful, they hope that they may be able to purchase enough land to eventually build and open a primary school on the same site.

The college will be constantly reviewing population numbers and forecast demand, but the primary school component will not now go ahead as part of the bid to be submitted later this year.  

Graham Taylor, Principal New College says, “We’ve always said that the bid for the free School should be based on demand in terms of population growth and house building plans. 

We’ve now received information that there will be enough primary school places to meet current estimates so our bid will refocus on a secondary school with post-16 provision for 11 to 18 year olds.  We are sorry to disappoint those parents with pre-school age children who had hoped for a school with all-through education but would like to thank them for their support. 

We will continue to run the campaign to generate signatures of support from parents of those wanting secondary or post-16 education locally”