Two new primary schools will be built at Felixstowe to cater for the resort’s fast-growing population – and education providers will be able to submit applications for the first one later this year.

The schools will serve the new 2,000-home North Felixstowe Garden Neighbourhood, which will be built in countryside on the edge of the town.

There are no plans yet though to add extra accommodation for high school students at Felixstowe School and this will be kept under review.

READ MORE: New Felixstowe leisure centre will be built near A14

Bus loads of pupils leave the resort every day for schools in Ipswich, Woodbridge and Saxmundham, but this is due to parent choice not lack of school space.

Kelly Smith, from Suffolk County Council’s education department schools’ infrastructure team, said the first of the schools off Gulpher Road – the site of a former golf driving range and currently used for equestrian activities – would open in September 2026.

It will serve the 560-home Trelawny Place development – the first phase of the garden neighbourhood and currently under construction – and access will be through the estate.

READ MORE: Felixstowe concerns over 2,000 homes plan for Suffolk town

Initially, the school will accommodate 210 pupils but this will rise eventually to 420. Pre-school places will also be available.

Ms Smith said applications from potential providers for the primary school would be invited later this year as the process begins.

She said the second school – an exact site will be decided as part of the masterplan being developed for the 345-acre site – would also accommodate 210 pupils initially and rise to 420. The timeline for this project will depend on the speed with which the housing is built.

READ MORE: Felixstowe news

The garden neighbourhood is described as a 20 to 30-year project which, along with other housing currently in the pipeline, will increase the resort’s population by around 10,000.

It will stretch from Gulpher Road in the north to the dock spur roundabout in the west and Ferry Road in the east, bordered in part by Candlet Road.

It will include a new state-of-the-art leisure centre, expected to cost around £25million, along with informal recreation, the two schools, a community hub and employment land for non-port related businesses.

READ MORE: Suffolk news