Plans submitted for secondary school at Alconbury Weald

08.01.2025

The Education Campus at Alconbury Weald has reached a key milestone with the submission of the latest plans for the secondary school.

The new secondary school - Alconbury Weald Church Academy - will sit alongside the recently opened Prestley Wood Academy (special educational needs and disabilities school) and initially delivers four forms of entry (600 pupils) alongside a sports hall with outdoor playing courts and playing fields. The building has been designed to enable the secondary school to expand to eight forms of entry (1,200 pupils) in response to future demand. The school is currently scheduled to open in September 2027.

The updated plans draw on the planning permission that was granted in summer 2022 and respond to comments raised through the design development process as well as further engagement with key stakeholders. The project is led by the Education team at Cambridgeshire County Council, working with the future operators of the school - Diocese of Ely Multi Academy Trust (DEMAT) – and Urban&Civic as the master developer of the overall Alconbury Weald development.

The key changes include the connection of the main hall and performing arts facilities with the main building; an updated external landscape design and a revised elevation design of the main building that fronts the school/civic square. The connection of the buildings and revised building arrangement optimises the position of internal spaces for circulation and access, including facilitating out-of-hours community access from the square to utilise the main hall/performing arts spaces.

The updated landscape design complements the new building arrangement and will offer a greater variety of spaces for seating, teaching, dining, socialising and informal play alongside the maintained provision of hard and soft sports facilities to the east.

Finally, the elevation design that was revised in response to the feedback of engagement with the planning authorities and a Design Quality Panel attended by the project team, will create a wonderfully elegant focal point at the heart of Alconbury Weald whilst addressing the feedback received in respect of scale, proportions and alignment.

Cambridgeshire County Council is delivering the school in line with its aspirations around sustainability, energy efficiency and best practice design in order to reduce the inherent energy demand and associated CO2 emissions of the building. In response to this, the school incorporates effective passive design measures through the adoption of a fabric first approach, followed by the use of low carbon energy sources in the form of air source heat pumps. Energy demand will then be further reduced by the use of zero carbon energy generators in the form of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels located at roof level.

Councillor Bryony Goodliffe, Chair of the Children and Young People Committee at Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “It’s great to see the latest plans submitted for the new Alconbury Weald Church Academy. The Alconbury Weald education campus is an important investment for the County Council, supported by funding from Urban&Civic, and the new secondary school is central to that.

“We want to ensure all children and young people in Cambridgeshire have opportunities to thrive. I’m delighted that the Alconbury Weald Church Academy is set to provide those opportunities to the current and future residents of Alconbury Weald.”

Adrian Ball, Chief Executive of DEMAT, who will be running the new secondary school, said: “We are thrilled to see this important milestone reached as we look forward to opening a brand new school for Huntingdonshire. The ambitious design reflects the ambitious curriculum which will be provided to our future pupils, and we express our thanks to everyone involved to date for making our vision for a new school a reality.

“We will shortly be seeking expressions of interest from parents of children currently in year 4 who would be interested in learning more about Alconbury Weald Church Academy as the first choice option for their child’s secondary education. More information will be provided to local primary schools and be available on the DEMAT website.”

Rebecca Britton, Regional Director of Alconbury Weald master developer Urban&Civic said: “It is great to see these plans coming forward. While the numbers of children coming forward from the development has meant the original timing for opening the school has been put back, it is great that all the partners have been using this time positively to refine the designs and ensure they deliver an inspiring and sustainable place for learning and the community at the heart of Alconbury Weald.”

Alongside the noted future expansion of the secondary school to eight forms of entry, another future phase of the Education Campus will see the expansion of Prestley Wood Academy to provide specialist autism and Post 19 accommodation for up to 50 pupils, alongside additional car and cycle parking, playing fields and landscaping. The Campus also includes areas of land reserved to accommodate a 384-place sixth form in addition to a potential further expansion of the secondary school beyond 8FE if required.