The future of a new school is not certain
DfE requires evidence that demand is increasing
Buckinghamshire Council has hinted that falling birth rates in Burnham and its surrounding areas could put an end to hopes for a new secondary school in the village.
Using the latest data issued by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the council has stated that Burnham’s declining birth rate could make the future of any new secondary school ‘unviable’.
Speaking in response to community pleas for a new non-selective secondary school in Burnham, Anita Cranmer, Buckinghamshire Council's cabinet member for education and children's services, said: “To open a new school, the council would have to justify the need to the DfE (Department for Education), which is
the decision maker for any new school applications.
“The DfE would need to see evidence that demand is increasing in the area and that the new school will not lead to excessive surplus places.
“However, the latest ONS data indicates that there has been a fall in the birth rate in Burnham as well as in surrounding areas including Slough, Maidenhead and Wycombe.
“If a school were to open on the site, there would therefore be no guarantee that it would be viable.”
The campaign for
Burnham’s new non-selective secondary school started when the former E-Act Burnham Park Academy was closed in 2019.
It was the only non-selective secondary school in Burnham.
Currently the only secondary provision in the village is Burnham Grammar School, entry to which must be gained by passing the 11+ exam, something which approximately 30 per cent of children attain.
Parental and community concerns are many – including worries over stress placed on each student due to enduring a longer school day to finding the £1,100 per child per annum that it can cost in transport fees.
The Burnham Needs a Secondary School campaign has
the backing of locals, such as Viv Nicholas, who doesn’t have school-aged children yet wants to see a secondary school back in the village.
He told a packed room at the last public campaign meeting that it is ‘grossly unfair and morally wrong’ that children have to be educated elsewhere in larger schools across different counties.
Bronwen Zeun, a former headteacher with 34 years’ of teaching and leadership experience in schools in Buckinghamshire,
supports Burnham’s campaign, and condemns the clumping of groups of children from different areas into the same, large, school.
She said that ‘oversubscribed schools aren’t effective. Children get lost in big schools and need smaller schools where they can get the right support and thrive’.
To date the petition to encourage the government to fund a non-selective secondary school in Burnham has over 1,000 signatures.