Will a new “Free Middle School” cause further chaos in Bury St Edmunds?

Those supporting the retention of Middle Schools in Bury St Edmunds scored a victory back in 2010 when Horringer Court and Westley Middle Schools managed to convert to academy status very quickly when the coalition government took power. This was clearly an opportunistic move designed to prevent Suffolk County Council being able to close them as part of the move to two tier education.

As detailed in my blog from November 2013 Why some Bury St Edmunds children won’t be able to go to the school next door the closure of Howard Middle School — now about to happen — will cause some problems for the so-called “all through” Bury St Edmunds Academy Trust and for parents of children around the Howard Estate wanting to send their children to the very nearby and sought after County Upper School.

Howard Middle’s site is now to be given to Howard Primary to allow it to expand into a regular 4–11 Primary School. Both the Trust’s Middle Schools are full so they have now decided to try and create a brand new Middle School using the Free School programme.

This proposed school has apparently been given initial approval by the DfE but has no site and appears to be proposing to squat on land at Tollgate Primary School until a permanent site is found.

The Trust’s letter explains their rationale:

All this comes as millions of pounds is being spent on the new Sybill Andrews Academy at Moreton Hall which will be a regular secondary school in the two tier system. This new Middle School will require even more funding and it is not clear to me that there are enough children for all these schools, including expanded primaries such as Howard Primary.

Millions of pounds has just been spent in Suffolk moving away from the three tier system. Maintaining both systems in Bury St Edmunds looks in danger of becoming an expensive, divisive mess. Hard to swallow for those of us elsewhere in Suffolk where we are struggling to keep open local schools whilst in Bury St Edmunds funding seems to exits to maintain two parallel incompatible systems….