Two new free schools announced for Barking and Dagenham
More new free schools have been announced (Picture: David Jones/PA) - Credit: PA Wire/PA Images
Two new all-through special schools are set to be built in the borough.
The schools - known as Beam Bridge School and Thames View Bridge School - were announced by the Department for Education today in the latest wave of free schools.
Across the country, 131 new free schools have been announced.
Education secretary Justine Greening said: “We need schools that can bring out the best in every single child no matter where they’re growing up, how much their parents earn, or however different their talents are.
“That’s why these new schools are so important - they give us the school places we need for the future, and they also give parents more choices to find a great school place in their area that’s right for their child.”
But shadow education secretary Angela Rayner added: “While new school places are welcome and necessary, the Government are failing to deliver the number of places that will be needed by 2020.
“The free schools programme has been proven to be an enormously expensive and inefficient way to create school places.
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“Today’s announcement alone almost certainly comes with a huge price tag, without necessarily even providing new school places in the areas that need them most. And this is at a time when existing schools are facing a severe funding crisis.”
In addition to the two new schools, Barking and Dagenham has five free schools in the pre-opening phase.
These include three primary schools - Abelle Free Primary School, Greatfields Primary School and Mallard Primary School – and two secondary schools, Beam High School and Green Spring New School.
In addition, six free schools have already opened in the borough, the first being Riverside School in 2013.
Two other secondary schools - Greatfields School and Elutec - have followed, along with the all-through Goresbrook and Riverside Bridge schools, plus Riverside Primary School.
