A new secondary school planned for development on land near Adastral Park in Martlesham Heath could tie-up with Kesgrave High School as part of a multi-academy trust.
Plans had been submitted to build 2,000 new homes on land adjacent to BT’s Adastral Park site, with Suffolk County Council confirming last week that a 600-place high school was also being lined up for the site.
Now, the oversubscribed Kesgrave High School has confirmed it has been approached over a possible link which could become a formal academy trust operating both schools.
Kesgrave High School headteacher Nigel Burgoyne said: “It’s no secret that Kesgrave is bursting at the seams, and we have now got our last building programme which will take us to maximum capacity.
“The developer has talked with us about involvement as an all-through school in terms of shaping it and making it compatible, and we are very keen to be involved with that.
“We are on the verge of becoming an academy trust and part of the logic of that is to ensure we can be leading that new link if we are chosen to do it.
“We think we would be the ones best suited through the primaries to do that work.”
No formal application has yet been made, but it is understood that all parties involved are keen on using Kesgrave’s strong track record to help get the school up and running.
Mr Burgoyne said with growth at the Adastral site and potential for 300 homes to be built off Bell Lane, a new high school was “crucial” to meet the demand.
Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP Dr Dan Poulter, said: “There are pressures on existing primary schools and I think work will also need to be done that the additional capacity is developed in the Kesgrave and Martlesham area.
“What we need to look for is not just an additional school but possibly looking at how we can have a link given the success of Kesgrave, and possibly having a new school build in the area linked in with Kesgrave. That would make a lot of sense.”
As part of the application for 300 homes in Kesgrave, provision has been made for an additional primary school, possibly as an additional campus to Cedarwood Primary School, although Cedarwood says it does not want to run an additional site.
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