Exact location of new Worcester secondary school is revealed

The new 600-place school is set to be built on fields off Newtown Road in Worcester between Worcestershire Royal Hospital and the A4440 Nunnery Way roundabout according to an early planning document.

Worcestershire County Council has not yet submitted a planning application for the new school but has so far put forward a ‘screening opinion’ which determines whether an environmental impact assessment would have to be carried out before the council formally present its plans for approval.

The ‘screening opinion’ also suggests that while the designs are still at an early stage, the school would have two main buildings, sports pitches and community facilities, and that room would be made for the school to at least double in size for 1,200 pupils in the future.

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The school is still on track to open in 2026 and is expected to reach full capacity by 2030.

SCHOOL: The land between the A4440 and Worcestershire Royal Hospital off Newtown Road (highlighted in red) where the new secondary in Worcester is set to be built (Image: Google Maps)

After a long search, the county council revealed in 2021 it would be building a new 600-strong secondary school in the Newtown Road area of the city and later announced that Oasis Community Learning, which is made up of 52 schools including primary school Oasis Academy in Warndon, as the new school’s sponsor.

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The building of the new school was branded ‘controversial’ by one city headteacher, who questioned its need and whether £40 million was a “waste of money.”

Neil Morris, headteacher at Christopher Whitehead Language College in Worcester, called out council bosses for pushing to build a new secondary school before addressing the existing problems in what he called a “broken” system.

SITE: The fields off Newtown Road in Worcester (Image: Google Maps)

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He said a decision to push ahead with the multi-million-pound work and build it close to the catchment areas of other ‘struggling’ schools was “controversial” to many of the city’s other headteachers.

“We’re not sure there’s the need, we’re not sure there are the places and it seems a lot of money,” he told councillors at the Guildhall meeting last month.

Worcestershire County Council said there was a definite need for more school places in the city and the plans had been drawn after “extensive” talks and consultation.

Cllr Tracey Onslow, cabinet member for education at Worcestershire County Council, said: ”The provision of a new school will ensure children can access a secondary school place within their local community in a growing city, as well as improving choice and access. 

"The requirement for more secondary places is evidenced by our sufficiency work, which is carried out across the county and updated on an ongoing basis, in line with NHS and census information, as well as taking into account the growth of housing developments around the city.”