New primary school opens after lengthy delays

A new primary school, originally set to open two years ago but beset by delays, will welcome its first pupils on Monday.

Kingsbourne Academy, on the Kingsbourne development in Nantwich, Cheshire, faced hold-ups because of legal and planning issues, as well as rising costs.

The school will eventually be for 210 pupils but is starting with an intake of reception age children, with a new cohort joining each year.

Nineteen pupils start on Monday and Sally Burns, head of the school, said: "For some of them they've watched for nearly two years as this building started."

She described those children and their parents as the very important "founding families" as, to her, they were putting their trust in her team.

Burns said starting a school from scratch was both a pressure and an enjoyable challenge: "We don't have any reputation yet, we have to build that, and we build that by bringing people in and showing them what we are."

She described it as a privilege to lead a new school, and something not many people will get to do.

"It also gives you that drive to want to do it right for the community," she added.

The initial school team is made up of four full-time staff, plus support from North West Academies Trust, which runs 14 primary and secondary schools across Cheshire and Shropshire.

Steve Docking is the trust's chief executive, and said although the delay in opening the school was unfortunate and out of their control, there have been benefits.

"When you build infrastructure and new estates, sometimes things don't always run smoothly," he admitted.

"Although the delay has been two years it hasn't felt like two years, and it has helped us make the school even better and establish it in an even better way."

The aim was initially to open with 30 pupils, so 19 was a good start, the chief executive said.

"People who invest in new schools, they don't know what they look like, they don't know what the track record is going to be," he said.

"For those local residents and people who have done that, it will be an amazing experience, I've no doubt it will fill over the year and be full for years to come."

The pupils starting at the school have already made their mark on the building - literally.

"We did a signing event on pieces of steel, so within the building itself, the children's signatures are already on them," said Docking.

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