Shefford and Stotfold area
There are currently 22 schools in the Shefford and Stotfold area. These are a mixture of council-maintained schools and academies (which are independent of the council).
In terms of the structure of the local schools, they are a mix of some operating in the three-tier system (lower, middle, and upper schools), others have changed their age range to become extended middle schools, and in September 2021, as part of phase one for the Shefford and Stotfold area, the following schools transitioned from lower schools to primary schools:
- Clifton All Saints Academy
- Derwent Primary School
- Langford Village Academy
- Raynsford Church of England Academy
- Meppershall Church of England Academy
In September 2021, the following school transitioned from a middle to an extended secondary school and will transition to a secondary in 2023:
- Henlow Church of England Academy
The following schools are in phase two of the Shefford and Stotfold area and have not yet transitioned to the primary/secondary model:
| School name | Current age range |
|---|---|
| Campton Lower School | Lower |
| Fairfield Park Lower School (Ruskin Drive site) | Lower |
| Fairfield Park Lower School (Dickens Blvd site) | Lower |
| Gothic Mede Academy | Lower |
| Gravenhurst Academy | Lower |
| Haynes Lower School | Lower |
| Roecroft Lower School | Lower |
| Shefford Lower School | Lower |
| Shillington Lower School | Lower |
| Southill Lower School | Lower |
| St. Mary's Academy | Lower |
| St. Mary's Lower School | Lower |
| Stondon Lower School | Lower |
| Robert Bloomfield Academy | Middle |
| Etonbury Academy | Extended Secondary |
| Pix Brook Academy | Extended Secondary |
| Samuel Whitbread Academy | Upper |
December 2023 update
In December 2023, Central Bedfordshire Council’s Executive officially authorised that the planned transition to two-tier across Shefford and Stotfold will not take place by September 2025 for Southill Lower, Shillington Lower, Stondon Lower, St Mary’s Lower (Clophill), Roecroft Lower, Shefford Lower, Fairfield Park Lower, and Haynes Lower Schools.
Also approved is that we will develop a revised two-tier proposal for these schools and bring forward informal and formal consultations, as required, to implement the change of age range. A future paper will be brought back to a future meeting of Executive to agree prescribed alterations as the decision maker for maintained schools and confirm the proposed year of implementation based on consultation outcomes.
We remain totally committed to:
- supporting all three-tier schools across Central Bedfordshire to transition to the established Primary and Secondary school (two-tier) model
- investing in school maintenance
- providing more school places where needed
- creating specialist provision for children with Special Educational Needs
The Council is investing £140m in this work over the next few years.
In light of the new forecast data and budget constraints, we have made some decisions, and you can read the full announcement from Executive Member for Families, Education and Children, Cllr Hayley Whitaker.
The decision for schools in the Shefford and Stotfold area are below.
Where we are now
Phase 1 schools:
Building work for Clifton All Saints, Derwent, Henlow, Langford, and Raynsford is either completed or nearing completion, with the schools having completed the legal transition to the two-tier model of education in September 2021.
Year 5 and 6 pupils at Meppershall Primary continue to attend Henlow Secondary school.
Phase 2 schools:
The planned transition to two-tier across Shefford and Stotfold will not take place by September 2025 or 2026 for schools that have not yet made this change and, at this stage, we do not currently have a date for this transition.
The planned relocation and expansion of Campton Academy will not be completed in September 2024, as there is no pressure for school places, but will instead be considered as part of the wider cluster plan.
If you are thinking about the next stage of schooling for your child, there will be no change to your current options.
The reason for this is that current available data, including current children living in the area as well as forecasts for new children being born and those moving into the area in the future, reflects what we know to be the national picture with a decrease in birth rates and overall less emerging demand.
Changes like this have meant that the number of children we expect to need school places in the short to medium term has reduced. The previous model is no longer appropriate because it would create too many school places, which could have a negative impact on children’s education and place unnecessary pressure on school operations. This is because school funding is linked to the number of children being taught each year at that school.
Given the size of some of our smaller, rural schools, there are also constraints which mean at least two lower schools could not expand into a primary school teaching the same number of children each year (as previously planned).
At this stage, we are not experiencing pressures for school spaces but we do acknowledge that some year groups in specific schools in this area are popular, and this has resulted in siblings not securing spaces at the same schools.
What’s happening next?
Although we cannot provide a plan at this stage for Shefford and Stotfold, what we can say is that any new plan will be subject to consultation and once agreed, it is expected that it will take two to three years for schools to transition to the two-tier model. So, changes will not happen quickly and therefore you will have time to plan for your children’s education journey.
We will continue to work with school leaders to develop a new plan. Whilst we recognise this is frustrating and unsettling if you are planning your child’s school journey, please be assured that this is the right course of action to avoid longer-term uncertainty for schools' futures.
This is because we can plan for children that have already been born or are in school now, while ensuring that our plans can be flexible to meet longer-term school place needs, for instance, if birth rates increase in the future.
Also, the future relocation and planned expansion of Campton Academy will need to be considered as part of the wider two-tier planning for Shefford and Stotfold to provide the best solution for our children’s education.
We will continue to review admissions criteria to consider ways to improve a situation which has resulted in some siblings not securing spaces at the same schools.
| School | "Have your say" consultation | Statutory consultation, or approval from DfE Regional Director for the East of England Region | Design and planning | Implementation of agreed building changes | Two Tier Transition Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Clifton All Saints |
Completed |
Completed |
Completed |
Completed |
2021 |
|
Derwent |
Completed |
Completed |
Completed |
Completed |
2021 |
|
Henlow |
Completed |
Completed |
Completed |
Completed |
2021 |
|
Langford |
Completed |
Completed |
Completed |
Completed |
2021 |
|
Raynsford |
Completed |
Completed |
Completed |
Completed |
2021 |
|
Meppershall |
Completed |
Completed |
In progress |
Not started |
2021 |
The Schools in phase 2 of Shefford and Stotfold have not yet transitioned to the primary / secondary model. The previous model which was consulted on is being reviewed. See text above for further details.
| School | "Have your say" consultation | Statutory consultation, or approval from DfE Regional Director for the East of England Region | Design and planning | Implementation of agreed building changes | Two Tier Transition Date (Subject to feasibility studies) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Etonbury Academy |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Fairfield Park Lower - Ruskin Drive |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Fairfield Park Lower - Dickens Boulevard |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Gothic Meade Academy (Current Site) |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Gothic Meade Academy (New site) |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Gravenhurst Academy |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Haynes Lower School |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Campton Academy (New Primary) |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Pix Brook Academy |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Robert Bloomfield Academy |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Roecroft Lower School |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Samuel Whitbread Academy |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Shefford Lower School |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Shillington Lower School |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Southill Lower School |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
St Mary's Lower School, Clophill |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
St Mary's Academy, Stotfold |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
|
Stondon Lower School |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
TBC |
Shefford and Stotfold consultation - winter 2019
Shefford, Stotfold and the surrounding area is set to grow, with some 5,400 new homes being built up to 2035. This will clearly impact schools, and we estimate that we’ll need an extra 3,500 places across our schools.
Public consultation (winter 2019)
Between 29 October 2019 and 20 January 2020, there was a public consultation on a proposed plan which would deliver the following changes between 2021 and 2029:
- to change the age range of all 17 lower schools to become primary schools
- to build four new primary schools, two of which will provide new accommodation for two of our current schools (Campton Lower and Gothic Mead Academy)
- to change the age range of the upper school (Samuel Whitbread), two extended secondary schools (Etonbury Academy and Pix Brook Academy) and two middle schools (Robert Bloomfield and Henlow) to become secondary schools
- to provide additional sixth form provision in Samuel Whitbread and, at a later date, at either Etonbury or Pix Brook
These proposals would see the schools in Shefford, Stotfold and the surrounding area effectively moving to a primary/secondary system to allow expansion to accommodate the new places.
Whilst these changes are significant, it’s a positive move that would increase the capacity of each school, allowing them to grow and accommodate additional school places and provide great education for all pupils in the future.
Consultation results and revised plan
1,467 people responded to the formal public consultation.
You can read the full report on the results on the council website, but a high-level summary is provided below.
There was:
- strong support for the long term plan (95%) and coordinating change across the locality (91%)
- mixed comments about the timing of changes – some wanting a staggered approach, some wanting all to change together, but also a strong theme about minimising disruption to pupils’ education
Consideration of this feedback has led to the council facilitating further discussions with the schools.
These discussions led to a revised plan. The revised plan is summarized below:
Phase one:
Henlow changes to secondary and its feeder schools Langford, Derwent, Clifton, All Saints, Meppershall and Raynsford change to primary at the same time in 2021. This took place in September 2021.
Phase two:
Robert Bloomfield and Samuel Whitbread to come together as Shefford & Clifton Academy Education Campus (0 to 18) on the same site, to include:
- 7FE secondary school
- 2FE primary school
- 3FE primary school
- Shefford Lower and Roecroft Lower to become 2FE primary schools
- all other lower schools convert to primary
- Pix Brook and Etonbury are currently extended secondary schools and due to become secondary schools
This revised plan, following consideration of the consultation feedback, was discussed at the Council’s Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 10 March 2020.
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee is a public meeting; the public can attend or watch the meeting online. You can read the papers for this meeting on the council website.
Overview and Scrutiny make recommendations to the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee considered the consultation feedback, the discussions with schools, and the Overview and Scrutiny Committee before making a decision to progress to the next stage – a statutory consultation for all Central Bedfordshire Council maintained schools – at its meeting on 7 April 2020.
Academy schools (which are run independently from the Council) do not need to publish statutory notices for public comment.
Statutory consultation and decision
On 4 August 2020, Central Bedfordshire Council’s Executive Committee approved proposals to change the age range of its 10 maintained schools, enabling a move to a primary/secondary model. You can watch the committee meeting online.
These schools are:
- Campton Lower School (this school became an academy in November 2020)
- Derwent Lower School (has now transitioned to become Derwent Primary School along with the other schools that feed into Henlow Academy)
- Fairfield Park Lower School (both the Ruskin Drive site and the Dickens Blvd site)
- Haynes Lower School
- Roecroft Lower School
- Shefford Lower School
- Shillington Lower School
- Southill Lower School
- St Mary’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Lower School
- Stondon Lower School
The Council’s Executive made its decision after a Department for Education-required statutory consultation concluded on June 30, 2020, on changes known as ‘prescribed alterations’.
The changes that have been approved can be found within the statutory consultation document.