THE opening of a new primary school in Wellington has been delayed by a year.

The trust which bid to open to the new primary school on the Longforth Farm Bloor Homes estate has confirmed the opening date will now be in September 2020, instead of 2019 as previously hoped.

The new school, called Isambard Kingdom Brunel School, will be run by the Castle Partnership Primary School, which also runs The Castle School in Taunton.

 

COMING SOON: Where the school will be based on the site

The trust’s business manager, Alison Crudington, said: “The school in Wellington will be built on the Longforth Farm development on a site which has been set aside from the outset.

“The school will be built, using central government capital funding rather than Somerset’s capital funding, as a 14 class primary school with a nursery.

“It was originally planned to open in September 2019 but delays have meant that this will now open in September 2020.

“It will initially open for reception age children and the nursery only. These reception children will move into year 1 in September 2021 and a new cohort of reception children would then start.

“While we are disappointed that this has taken longer than we had expected, we are delighted that all the issues appear to be resolved and we are now looking forward to seeing the development of the site begin.”

 

PROGRESS: The housing development in Wellington

Somerset County Council said work is being done to ensure there are enough places for school started in September.

A spokesman said: “The council’s role is to ensure that there are enough school places for local children.

“Having been informed of the delay we are planning to put an additional classroom at St John’s Primary School.

“This would be funded by education contributions from the housing developers and mean there is an extra reception class in Wellington by September 2019 to meet local demand.

“This is still subject to approval by the council and would be funded from developer section 106 money.”

A spokesman for the Department of Education said no official opening date had been set but it's hoped one will be agreed shortly.