Brentwood News
Becket Keys - long awaited consultation and site details released
3:54pm Tuesday 21st February 2012
LONG awaited details about the set up of Brentwood’s new free school and a consultation about its funding have been released.
Church of England secondary school Becket Keys is due to open at the Sawyers Hall College site in September.
Growing calls for more information about the use of the site and details about a public consultation prompted an update to be released on the school’s website today (Tuesday).
Andy Scott-Evans, headteacher, said discussions about the site continue with the Department for Education, Essex County Council (ECC) and Sawyers Hall head, Stephen Capper.
He said: “The majority of the site will be for Becket Keys and we have secured the areas of the site that we wanted.
“We are fortunate because most of the teaching for our new Year 7 in September will be carried out in the newest block.
“The rest of the site will be developed over the subsequent 12 months so that by August 2013, the entire Becket Keys site will be completely refurbished.”
Parts of the site already used by Havering College, including the hair and beauty college, will remain but with a separate entrance and facilities.
The statement also said a six-week consultation period, not including school holidays, is expected to open at the beginning of March.
It will ask one question - should the Becket Keys Trust enter into a funding agreement with the Secretary of State for Education?
Informal consultation will also continue through comments received via the school’s website, email and face to face meetings.
Educating Brentwood - a blog set up to promote educational accountability in the borough - said questions still need to be answered about specific aspects of the consultation, including what form it will take, if public meetings will be organised, and how views will be gathered.
It also questions if it is “the best use of public money” to refurbish the site.