Consultation on Sandye Place Academy

Consulation closed: Friday 29 October 2021
Consulation opened: Friday 17 September 2021

The former Sandye Place Academy was closed by the Department for Education (DfE) in August 2019.

Following the re-organisation of education provision in the area and closure of Sandye Place Academy, the playing field and non-playing field assets, such as the school building, are now surplus to education requirements.

Sandye Place Academy is also listed as an asset of community value; view Sandye Place Academy's asset of community value listing.

Education capacity forecasting, as shown in the below graphs, also demonstrates that both primary and secondary schools in Sandy have surplus capacity to 2030 and beyond when compared against forecasted pupil admission numbers.

While the site has not been used by a school or any community group since August 2019, we continue to maintain the land and buildings. There are ongoing maintenance and upkeep costs associated with this.

Sandye Place Academy has always been an important and much cherished community asset. Although it is no longer required for education, we want it to remain an important community facility that continues to serve the needs of Sandy now and in the future.

Absolutely no decisions have been made at this stage about the long-term future of site.

We want to explore, with the community, is what the site could be used for. Some parts of it are listed, in a conservation area, designated as ‘important open space’ and some parts will have historical importance to the community too. This will all need to be considered. We will need to understand what Sandy needs and what the ambitions are for Sandy so we can have a conversation about how the site can best serve the community in the future.

We can't have this conversation until the Secretary of State for Education permits the site to be released from its educational status. We must, therefore, apply to the Secretary of State for Education to seek written consent for disposal of the land and associated buildings under Section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and a Schedule 1 application under the Academies Act 2010. It is only once written consent is received that we will be able to consider what the future options for the site may be.

For the purposes of this consultation and any future application to the Secretary of State for Education, please note that the term ‘disposal’ means obtaining the prior written consent of the Secretary of State for Education to release land and associated buildings from their educational status. The submission of an application does not constitute a formal decision by us to dispose of or make any changes to the former Sandye Place Academy site.

We consulted all interested parties on the proposed application to the Secretary of State for Education.