Parents want rethink on scrapped secondary school

4 hours ago

Laura CoffeyNorthamptonshire political reporter

Parents have started a petition calling for the decision to be reversed

Laura Coffey/BBC Three women stand looking at the camera. The woman on the left has blonde hair and she is wearing glasses and a striped jumper. The woman in the middle has dark hair she is wearing glasses. She has an orange jumper and a blue jacket. The woman on the right has dark hair and is wearing glasses. She is wearing a cream jacket and cream scarf. — Parents have started a petition calling for the decision to be reversed

Parents living on a new build housing estate said they were disappointed funding had been withdrawn for a secondary school.

In February, the Department for Education (DfE) decided not to go ahead with Dallington Park School in Northampton, which would have created up to 900 places and helped meet demand from new housing in the area, including the Dallington Grange Development of 3,000 homes.

Mum-of-two Daniela Oanta started a petition calling for a review of the decision she said: "I feel very disappointed, I feel that [moving here] was the worst decision we could ever make."

The DfE and West Northamptonshire Council have been contacted for comment.

Oanta, 37, said: "When we found out that the school is not being built, we are looking potentially to live another year and then sell the house and move somewhere where it's closer to a secondary school, which is annoying because that wasn't our plan."

Harlestone Grange is part of the wider Dallington Grange Development of 3,000 homes

Laura Coffey/BBC A row of new build houses. The houses on the right have fenced front gardens. There are footpaths either side of the road. — Harlestone Grange is part of the wider Dallington Grange Development of 3,000 homes

Clare Hopkins, who has five children aged between 21 and nine, said: "We don't have a catchment for secondary schools, there are no options all the schools around us are oversubscribed.

"When we moved to Northampton we were given a list of five schools and one was in Brackley, one was in Wellingborough, it's completely unreasonable to think we should be travelling that number of miles to get our kids to school."

Dallington Park School would have added 180 places in 2027, eventually growing to 900, and had already begun preparing to open by taking registrations of interest from parents.

Sally Keeble, a ward councillor Dallington Spencer and leader of the Labour opposition group on West Northamptonshire Council, said: "The decision made to scrap the school in Dallington Grange has left the town with a looming crisis."

She has also called for the decision to "be revisited".

Following a Freedom of Information request, Keeble said the government had made "decision based on out-of-date information".

The DfE and West Northamptonshire Council have been contacted for comment.

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