It has been estimated that there will be a lack of Secondary places for children in the Borough by 2018. This must cause concern for parents of pupils currently in local Junior Schools. Residents may have recently read in the local paper about the Bishop Ramsey Academy Trust’s successful bid to build the Bishop Arden Church of England School for students from 11-18 of the Christian faiths, world faiths and no faith. This school is due to open in September 2018.
Recently Hillingdon Council has been given permission by the Department for Education to build two more new free schools in Hillingdon. These are Hillingdon High School and Orchard Hill Special Free School. Hillingdon High School is a joint proposal from the Head Teachers of Ruislip High School, Haydon School, Northwood School, Vyners School and Queensmead School. The bid was made in response to the news from Hillingdon Council that there could be an estimated 349 pupils without a secondary school place by September 2019.
All three proposed schools now enter the pre-opening stage, which includes finding a location, pupil recruitment and staffing.
At present it is still not clear who made the bid to launch the special school or where in the borough it would be located.
However, it must be some consolation to parents to know that the Council is already making plans to ensure that all local children have the choice of a suitable secondary school place which is the right of every child.
Watch this space for updates.*
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