Major new 630-place school could open along thousands of homes

A major new primary school and nursery for children living in the new suburbs of Weston-super-Mare could open in September 2025.

Thousands of homes are being built on the outskirts of the seaside town in Haywood Village on the former Weston Airfield and at the Locking Parklands development on the old RAF Locking. The number of children living in the area is projected to grow by almost 400 over the next seven years but Haywood Village Academy is already oversubscribed.

A new school with 630-spaces to be built next to the Runway on Weston Airfield was included in Persimmon’s plans. The house builder submitted a planning application for the school last year but there was a hunt to find someone to run the school.

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Now the Cabot Learning Foundation — the multi-academy trust which runs Haywood Village Academy and the Uphill Village and Herons’ Moor primary schools — has secured government approval to run the new school. The school will include a nursery with capacity for 102 children and sports facilities which will be available for use by the wider community.

Steve Taylor, chief executive officer at the Cabot Learning Federation, said: “We have been deeply invested in Weston-super-Mare since 2011 and specifically in the Haywood Village and Locking Parklands community since 2016.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to continue to serve this community with provision for pupils aged two to 19, providing strong coherence between and across the phases. We’re also looking forward to working closely with North Somerset Council on another school building project, having enjoy excellent working relationships and real collaborative success in the past.”

The Cabot Learning Foundation also runs the secondary academies Hans Price and Broadoak, and the newly-built Winterstoke Hundred. The foundation said that the new school should open in September 2025, based on current projections.

North Somerset Council’s director of children’s services Claire Shiels said: “May we take this opportunity of thanking all those who submitted applications for this opportunity; the field was very strong, and we were inspired by the commitment and passion shown by bidding teams for improving children’s lives through education throughout the process.

“We would like to congratulate CLF on their successful application and look forward to working with them on the delivery of this new school.”

The school has outline planning permission as part of the wider development of the former airfield but still needs to be granted “reserved matters” planning permission for the final details of the building. No name has yet been chosen for the new school.