First glimpse of new 1,500-pupil school to be built in Milton Keynes

People are being asked their views about a new 1,500 pupil school to be built to serve the south east area of Milton Keynes

Glebe Farm School will be built in Burney Drive on the new Glebe Farm estate at Wavendon and is scheduled to welcome its first pupils from September 2022. This first intake will be nursery, reception, Year 1, Year 2 and Year 7 pupils.

It will be run by a multi academy trust called Inspiring Futures through Learning (IFtL) rather than by MK Council.

Unusually for MK, the school will have no sixth form. Pupils will start at the age of four and leave at the age of 16 to access further education elsewhere.

There will be an additional 39 place nursery setting.

IFtL already runs 14 schools in Northampton and Milton Keynes but this will be the largest and the only one to cater for secondary school pupils.

The MK schools are Ashbrook school in Two Mile Ash, Chestnuts Primary in Bletchley, Heronshaw in Walnut Tree, Fairfields Primary on the Fairfields estate, Holmwood school in Great Holm, Olney Infant Academy, Olney Middle School, Rickley Park Primary school in Bletchley, St Mary and St Giles Church of England school in Stony Stratford, Two Mile Ash school and Whitehouse Primary school on Whitehouse Park.

A spokesman for IFtL said: "Each school has its own unique identity and personality. However, we all share the same core goal: to strive to provide a world-class education provision for all children. "

The new Glebe Farm school is described by the Trust as "a place of learning and engagement for pupils and the community, the provision of an innovative, excellent and broad education for 1530 pupils." f

Milton Keynes Council has previously consulted on the proposal to develop additional school places in the South East of Milton Keynes, aligning the need with the significant residential growth in the surrounding area.

Consultation on the proposed building and site layout has already been a key part of the approval of planning permission.

The new consultation focuses on the Department of Education’s proposed contract with Glebe Farm School, funding the school places to be made available from September 2022.

"This consultation is important and we are interested to hear from all stakeholders about our plans for the school," said the IFtL spokesman,

The consultation opened on Monday and runs for six weeks until Monday July 5 2021.

You can access the consultation page and take part in the survey here .

Academies are state-funded schools, receiving funding directly from the government to provide education. Academies have some additional areas of autonomy such as their curriculum and setting of own terms dates, however follow the same rule as all other state schools on admissions, special educational needs provision and exclusions, which are subject to inspections by Ofsted and their students sit the national examinations.

Multi-Academy Trusts are charities that have responsibility for running a number of academies. They cannot, as charities, be run for financial profit and any surplus must be reinvested in the Trust.

By working in partnership with each other, the schools within a Trust can share best practice, expertise and resources, working together to deliver the best outcomes for all pupils within all schools. There is shared accountability for standards across the Trust; all schools within support each other and the Trust is accountable for the success of them all.