Relocation and expansion approved for Shefford school
Monday, 17 October 2022
Our Executive Committee has approved the £14.1 million expansion and relocation of Campton Academy to a new site on Hitchin Road in Shefford.
This is subject to approval from the Department for Education’s (DfE) Regional Director for the East of England Region.
As part of our New School Places programme, the new build is expected to be ready by September 2024 and will see the school expand from 120 pupils on its existing site on Rectory Road in Campton to 420 pupils at the new location.
This project will be in advance of the planned change of age range from a lower school to a primary, which is part of the Schools for the Future programme and was approved in August to take place in September 2025. To future-proof the site, the new school will be built to accommodate 2 forms of entry.
The land for the relocation and expansion for Campton Academy is part of the approved planning application for 150 new homes at the land west of Hitchin Road Shefford. Therefore, the expansion and relocation of Campton Academy will be also funded by the DfE Basic Need grant, Section 106 education contributions as well as the Schools for the Future programme.
The school is popular with parents and carers and was graded outstanding at its last Ofsted inspection in 2010, but it is oversubscribed for the current year and by 2025 it is forecast to have a deficit of places.
Our Executive Member for Education, Councillor Sue Clark, said:
Our New School Places scheme is about creating additional places in areas of demand like the Shefford and Stotfold area, so that children can go to a good local school nearer to where they live.
The expansion and relocation of Campton Academy will enable the school to meet this demand for places in line with housing growth while offering pupils a greater curriculum depth. And, in 2025, Campton Academy will be ready to become a primary when other schools in the area are also proposed to change from three to two-tier.
Campton Academy and the Bedfordshire Schools Trust (BEST) will now submit a business case for the expansion and relocation for consideration to the DfE’s Regional Director for the East of England Region, with capital support from us, which will progress through to detailed design, planning and construction.