A Newcastle MP has met with the Government to air parents’ worries about major delays to the building of a new school.
Families in the north of the city were left bitterly disappointed last month, when it emerged that a permanent home for the Great Park Academy will not be ready until the summer of 2025. The latest in a string of delays to the project has been blamed on the failure of a Department for Education (DfE) procurement process to find a contractor to build the school and means that pupils will be learning from the school’s temporary accommodation at Gosforth Academy for some time to come.
Newcastle North MP Catherine McKinnell met with schools minister Nick Gibb on Monday to share major worries about the development – including ensuring that children have access to adequate teaching facilities and over the impact of escalating construction costs. The middle and secondary school was meant to open on the Great Park estate in 2020, but has suffered a number of setbacks.
Read More: Huge blow for Newcastle families as opening of long-awaited new school pushed back to 2025
The Labour MP said: “Earlier this week I met with the Minister for Schools, Nick Gibb MP in relation to the delays in the construction of Great Park Academy and the impact that this is having on pupils, parents and Gosforth Academy. It follows a meeting I had earlier this year with the then Schools Minister. I entirely appreciate the frustration that pupils and parents are feeling, and I am incredibly disappointed that the build has been delayed further.
“I pressed the Minister on how the Department for Education will ensure pupils, and their education, are not negatively affected by the delay, and raised issues with access to the school, access to adequate teaching facilities and for assurances that the rising cost of materials does not pose a risk to the build. The Minister acknowledged that the delay was not acceptable, offered some reassurance and a further update meeting in the spring to keep the matter under close review.
“I will continue to work with the Department for Education, with Gosforth Group and Newcastle City Council, to ensure building work is finally able to get under way and pupils and parents get the school they deserve and were promised on Newcastle Great Park.”
The Government said last month that it was “working as quickly as possible to appoint a new contractor”. The academy opened at the temporary buildings in 2021 because of an urgent need for new school places to keep up with the demand caused by major housing developments on the outskirts of Newcastle, with the building of the permanent school having been held up by a lengthy planning battle and then Covid-19.
After a meeting with parents in November, the school said in a Q&A document on its website that it was working to install new temporary facilities in 2023 and 2024 to cater for new year groups starting – including extra classrooms and PE space. School leaders said the DfE had been “unable to reach agreement with the contractor for the Great Park project on commercial aspects, including building design and specification”.
It is now hoped that building work could start on the new school in autumn 2023. The DfE was contacted for a response.
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