Approval has been given for the Maiden Erlegh Trust to open a new secondary free school (for Years 7-11) named ‘River Academy’, which will be located in North Reading. A site has yet to be agreed. The successful bid was one of 22 approved last week, out of 124 received.
Applications for secondary school places for September 2019 initially exceeded the places available in Reading schools by over 300, and most local secondary schools took on a bulge class to enable all children to be offered a place on National Offer Day. There are 2 more years of bulge classes moving from primaries to secondaries, and so the new free school will be sorely needed. The trust hopes to open the new school in September 2021.
More details and a Have Your Say questionnaire can be found here.