Row over new secondary school delays
New South Gloucestershire school was supposed to have welcomed its first pupils in 2022
Council chiefs have “failed” hundreds of children because of a four-year delay opening a new secondary school on a housing estate north-east of Bristol, distraught parents say.
Lyde Green Secondary School, part of a new development in the Emersons Green area in South Gloucestershire, was originally supposed to welcome its first pupils in 2022 but this was pushed back by 12 months twice and then last year to September 2026.
Families of youngsters told a council meeting that they have been met with a “wall of silence” from the local authority and are in limbo because they do not know which other schools to visit and apply for and that friends are likely to be separated and end up in different ones.
South Gloucestershire Council co-leader and cabinet member for schools Cllr Ian Boulton (Labour, Staple Hill & Mangotsfield) blamed the previous Conservative administration and told the parents the saga was “absolutely shameful”.
He said he could offer little comfort to those who would go into year seven before the school opened, which is the current years five and six.
The secondary school will have 900 places and be run by Olympus Academy Trust while an adjacent new primary school will be for 420 pupils and will be run by Castle School Education Trust.
Dad Ross Harkins, who has a 10-year-old son, told a full council meeting: “I’m here to highlight the failings for a cohort of children whose needs haven’t been met and in fact might never be met and they include my son.
“What are the plans for the year five cohort?
“It seems to be that we can make choices of Downend, Mangotsfield, Chipping Sodbury, but the cold harsh reality might actually be that they are just a myth, that we will get what we are given and will have to be happy with it, and that is not really fair.
“I’ve talked to other families, we visited Chipping Sodbury School, it’s nice, a very good school, we could get a group of families together, we would get transport arrangements together, we could apply together, but there is no guarantee that we could all get into that school.
“Any plans that parents make to try to get our children to school are not worth the paper they’re written on because we do not know where we’re going to get, we do not know what schools are available and we cannot make any plans without any clear messaging and communication from yourselves.
“And at the moment – I hate to say it – there is a wall of silence.
“There is nothing coming from the council and no information being given to the parents.”
He asked if places could be allocated at specific schools for Lyde Green children.
Ross said: “These children have been failed and we need to look at decisions and ideas outside the box.
“The children are important.
“They’re not just numbers on a spreadsheet, they are kids with hopes and dreams, fears and anxieties, and it’s your responsibility to do something about it.”
Mum Amy Johnson told the meeting on Wednesday, July 17: “The lack of senior school provision in Lyde Green has had a significant detrimental impact on the local area, the children and all of the families that live in it.
“It means that we as parents whose job it is to provide the best we possibly can for our children are in this impossible situation of not being able to choose even our main three choices.
“It looks unlikely that we might get any choices and that means we don’t necessarily know which schools to look at.
“You can’t look at endless schools within Bristol in the hope that you might get that one.
“Children want their parents to have answers but we don’t know whether it will be okay, and it just seems very unfair.”
She said siblings could end up at different schools in different directions.
Amy said: “The overall impact on the current years five and six has to be considered in the context that they have essentially been forgotten.
“It’s the overall wellbeing of our children that’s important, it’s not just will they get a decent education, it’s will they be comfortable, will they be anxious, will they turn up at senior school with no friends whatsoever because they’ve been allocated a random place.”
Cllr Boulton said afterwards: “Many families face agonising choices due to the lack of school places in the Lyde Green, Emersons Green and Downend area.
“The situation is primarily caused by the failure to build the schools required in Lyde Green in a timely way to meet the needs of this emerging community.
“Since we formed the council administration last year, virtually from a standing start, the project to build the two overdue schools for Lyde Green is now well underway.
“I set the challenge to get these schools built to officers and our partners when I took on my new role and I am in awe of, and extremely thankful for, the efforts they have made to get this far so quickly and for the support provided by surrounding schools to offer school spaces until Lyde Green has the local school spaces it needs.
“Our efforts will undoubtedly address the current problems for families in the future, however I accept our work cannot possibly provide much comfort for the situation families continue to face here and now and I am genuinely sorry about that.”
A council spokesperson said: “We are pleased that the construction of a new primary and a new secondary school in Lyde Green is finally underway.
“The target opening date for both is September 2026 and we will do everything in our power to ensure this happens on time.
“We recognise that the delays to the project have and continue to cause some concerns for local families.
“In recent years the council has worked closely with local schools and multi-academy trusts to secure an additional 180 places for children equivalent to the numbers that would have been available had the new schools been built.
“This has meant that 94 per cent of parents were able to secure a place for their child at a school in their top three preferences.
“We will continue to work with local school leaders to maintain this provision while the new buildings are completed.
“When the secondary school opens in September 2026, the plan is for it to take 180 children into year seven, and it will be part of the same process as for all other South Gloucestershire secondary schools through the coordinated admissions scheme.
“In summer each year South Gloucestershire prepares an admissions prospectus which includes details of the schools available in the local area, the published admission number of the school, ie, the number of places available and the admissions criteria used by the admissions authority.
“A specific number of places cannot be allocated for residents of the Lyde Green community as the admissions process must be conducted in a way which is legally compliant with the statutory admission code so that allocation of places is fair and equitable to all parents.”