Primary school plans for new town take step forward

Plans for the first primary school in the new Waterbeach New Town development have moved a step forward as councillors endorse the preferred trust to run the school. 

Waterbeach, when complete, is planned to provide 11,000 new homes and is forecast to create demand for around 4,400 primary school places. 

Five primary schools are planned to meet this need, and Cambridgeshire County Council’s Children’s and Young People Committee met on November 30 to decide if councillors supported the proposed trust to run the first school. 

The report presented to the committee said that the first of the new primary schools will need to be built and ready by September 2023 to make sure school places are available for the first families who move to the new town. 

The school will be built with a capacity for 420 children, which will be expanded to 630 places as further parts of the development are completed. 

When the school first opens, it is proposed to have 20 places available in reception, 10 in Year One, and five in each of the other year groups. 

The county council received six proposals from multi-academy trusts to run the school, the report said, and following an assessment panel, Anglian Learning Trust was supported as the preferred choice to run the school. 

In the report it explained some of the reasons behind this recommendation, including the trust being able to understand the “challenges and opportunities” for children and families in the area. 

The report added there was also evidence of a clear plan to “champion” the needs of disadvantaged or vulnerable children and to narrow the attainment gaps with their peers. 

Anglian Learning Trust currently oversees 14 schools, including Bottisham Community Primary School and Fen Ditton Primary School. 

Councillors voted unanimously to support endorsing the trust and the county council’s preferred choice to run the new primary school.