Three brand new primary schools opened in Essex at the start of the autumn term. These have created more than 1,200 school places for children.
In total, we have invested more than £30 million in the projects.
The three schools which opened at the start of the term are:
- Chapel Hill Primary School and Nursery, Basildon - 420 place primary school and 56 place early years
- Limebrook Primary School and Nursery, Maldon - 420 place primary school and 56 place early years
- Beaulieu Park School, Chelmsford - 420 place expansion onto second site
The schools have recently been handed over to the relevant Academy Trusts before welcoming their first pupils at the start of September.
Councillor Tony Ball, Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Education Excellence, Lifelong Learning and Employability, said:
We want all young people in Essex to have access to high-quality education facilities and this means we need to ensure that the available infrastructure keeps pace with the growth of the county.
These state-of-the-art education facilities will create hundreds of new school places in areas where they are much-needed and the brand new buildings will ensure children have the best possible learning environments while also helping us meet our environmental aims.
These are hugely exciting projects, and I am delighted we’ve been able to invest in the future of Essex, benefitting young people in Maldon, Basildon and Chelmsford.
We work closely with partners, to assess demand for school places as set out in the 10-year plan for Essex school places.
Across Essex since 2009, 19 new schools have opened. These are 13 primary, four secondary and two all-through schools.
During the same time, the council has also delivered 88 expansions at existing mainstream schools.
In addition, since 2018, 40 temporary classrooms have been replaced with modern permanent buildings.
Find out more about school place planning in Essex.