Applications will reopen for town's sixth form

Neale-Wade Academy in March did not accept applications to its sixth form for September 2025

A town secondary school, which stopped accepting applications for its sixth form last year, has reopened them for September 2026.

Neale-Wade Academy in March considered closing its sixth form due to low application numbers, but said its governing trust had deemed it viable.

The Active Learning Trust, which runs 19 schools across Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, said it reviewed local competition, financial variability and had consultations with students, staff, parents and governors before making the decision.

It was welcomed by North-East Cambridgeshire Conservative MP, Steve Barclay, who said it was "important for a town the size of March that students are able to fulfil their potential".

He hoped the trust would "look closely at the range of courses on offer and how these can be expanded to improve the choice available to students".

More than 20,000 people live in March, and it would have become Fenland's only town without a sixth form if it had closed permanently, as Neale-Wade Academy is its only secondary school.

The school was rated as Requires Improvement at its last full Ofsted inspection in 2021. A monitoring visit in January suggested progress had been made since, including more settled staffing, greater clarity around the curriculum and greater oversight.

In 2024, 40.7% of A-Levels at Neale-Wade were graded A to C, although there were no A*s. The average grade was D.

Subjects on offer included business, medical sciences, psychology, criminology, mental health and child development.

March is due to expand in the coming years, with 130 homes approved on land next to Neale-Wade.

The school will also benefit from the sale of a small strip of farmland, which marks its southern boundary, to developers, to allow them to widen Barker's Lane.

The proceeds – an undisclosed sum, but exceeding £500,000 – will be split equally between the school and Cambridgeshire County Council.

Lynsey Holzer, CEO of the Active Learning Trust, said it was "grateful for all the helpful feedback from students, parents, staff and governors" throughout its viability review of the school's sixth form.

"We were particularly impressed by the positive and heartfelt engagement of the school community at the meeting we held, and we very much view this as a community-led decision with student choice at the centre."