Many of you will be aware that the Council refused the planning application for a new secondary school in Rosehill Park West on the grounds of poor design including classrooms without windows. The developer appealed our decision and the government took the unprecedented decision to make the final decision. The Secretary of State agreed with the Council about the poor design of the building but overturned the Council’s refusal on the grounds of the need for more secondary school places.  For more details see here.

Since then your ward councillors have been questioning if the need for more school places is still the same. While there has been high demand for school places in Sutton in the past, primary school rolls are now beginning to fall across London including in our area and Sutton secondary schools are concerned that a new school could affect their numbers. We asked Council officers to work with our local schools to understand how the situation is changing. 

The secondary schools have now proposed that the additional places needed in the borough can be met via the expansion of some existing schools (but not Greenshaw) and this proposal will be discussed at the meeting of the People Committee on 1st July.  All the committee papers, together with a link to watch the committee on-line, can be found here on the Council website. 

We have asked council officers to assess the latest projections for school numbers and to continue discussions with the Department for Education. Ultimately it will be for the DfE to decide whether they want to go ahead and build the school or not, bearing in mind the views of Sutton headteachers.

Residents will recall that the proposal included building a small special school (for 56 pupils with autism).  The need for such a school remains, but if the government decides to proceed with it, it is likely that it will need a new planning application.

We are very proud of the excellent reputation of our schools in Sutton and work closely in partnership with them to keep educational standards high. We want all our children to do well and we have always managed to ensure that there are sufficient school places for the many families who value the education that Sutton offers.

We will follow the situation closely and keep the website updated with the latest news.

Ruth, Marlene and Steve