New academy welcomes pupils to temporary site

The new permanent school building is expected to open in 2026, for now it will be accommodated at the Thomas Clarkson Academy

The first pupils have been welcomed to the temporary site of a new Cambridgeshire school.

A permanent building for the Wisbech Academy is expected to open in 2026, for now pupils will be accommodated on the Thomas Clarkson Academy site.

A total of 95 applications were received for places at the school and all 95 have been offered a place.

Cambridgeshire County Council hoped opening the school early would create enough secondary school places for children in the town.

A funding agreement signed in June by the Department for Education (DfE), who will deliver the new school, enabled it to open in time for the start of term.

The council and Brooke Weston, which also runs the Thomas Clarkson Academy, contacted families whose children had been allocated a school place for September outside Wisbech.

They were offered an alternative place at the new academy.

Bryony Goodliffe, chair of Cambridgeshire County Council’s children and young people committee said: "I am delighted that the new school is opening in time for the start of the new academic year.

"This is excellent news for Wisbech and its young people.

"I am particularly grateful for the persistence and hard work of council officers – in partnership with the Brooke Weston Trust and the DfE – which has enabled this to happen."