Kingston Council welcomes approval of Church of England secondary school

A new secondary school will be opened in the borough after the Secretary of State for Education approved an application from the Diocese of Southwark.

Kingston Council has welcomed the news as the school will provide 180 places per year for children aged 11 to 16. It is expected to open for its first Year 7 cohort in 2023.

The Council has worked with the Diocese to ensure the balance of available places meets the needs of the community:  two-thirds of the places per year available to any applicants and a third will be available to children of practising Anglicans or other faiths. This is in recognition of the fact that the school will make a much-needed contribution to the ‘basic need’ for additional places as the borough’s population continues to grow in coming years.

Subject to full feasibility and formal committee approval in due course, the Council will lease part of the Kingsmeadow site for the school. That location will enable the school principally to serve future cohorts of children living in Kingston, Norbiton and New Malden – the areas where children have been unplaced at the initial offers stage for the last few years.

The Department for Education will pay for 90% of the capital costs of building the new school and the Council will pay 10%.

Cllr Diane White, Portfolio Holder for Children’s Services including Education, said: “This is excellent news!

“It will give parents/carers and their children certainty that there will be enough secondary school places in the borough for generations to come.

“I look forward to welcoming this new school into our local family of schools.”

Colin Powell, Director of Education for the Diocese of Southwark, added: “The Diocesan Board of Education is delighted that the proposal for a new Church of England  Secondary School for Kingston has progressed to the next stage.

“This school will add to the quality of educational provision in the borough and offer further parental choice.“My Board, and the 10 primary schools we maintain in the borough, acknowledge the support and strong mutual working relationship they have with Kingston Local Authority.”