The Ongar Academy

The School

The Ongar Academy serves a predominantly rural catchment area, including the market town of Ongar (comprising Chipping Ongar, Shelley, Marden Ash and Greensted) and surrounding villages such as Fyfield, Moreton, High Ongar, Stanford Rivers and Toot Hill. The Headteacher is David Grant, who joined the school in January 2015, having previously served as Deputy Headteacher at The Hertfordshire and Essex High School and Science College in Bishop's Stortford, described at the time of his appointment as "the fourth highest performing comprehensive secondary in the country".

Opening

The Ongar Academy opened on 7 September 2015 with 98 Year 7 students (82% of capacity). When full, the school will have 800 students, including a sixth form of 200 students.

Premises

On 2 February 2015 Epping Forest District agreed to allow the purchase of playing fields used by Ongar Leisure Centre by the Department for Education, paving the way for the construction of The Ongar Academy.

The Ongar Academy initially opened in temporary premises established on disused tennis courts adjacent to Ongar Leisure Centre, Fyfield Road, Ongar, Essex. The premises include three blocks of one and two storey school buildings, accessed via a large open decking, along with a secure playground area to the rear. The school has access to facilities in nearby Ongar Leisure Centre (sports hall, dance studios and swimming pool) and Ongar Youth Centre. The school also uses the extensive sports fields to the rear of Ongar Leisure Centre and immediately adjacent to the playground. The main contractor, Elliott UK, had experience providing purpose built permanent, temporary, and relocatable schools and classrooms. Planning permission was granted by Epping Forest District Council for the temporary premises on 17 June 2015 and the premises were handed over to the school on 29 July 2015.

In March 2015, The Ongar Academy unveiled initial artists’ impressions of a multimillion-pound new build school which would replace the temporary premises from September 2017. Public consultation on the detailed plans was undertaken in October 2015 and a full planning application was submitted in January 2016. Full planning consent was granted by Epping Forest District Council on 20 April 2016 and various dignitaries attended a Breaking the Ground ceremony on 15 July 2016. The main Contractor is Kier Group and Planning Consultants, Vincent and Gorbling.

Governance

Although opened as a Free School, the school now operates as a traditional Academy, governed by an independent trust, The Ongar Academy Trust. The Governors or Trustees of the school are named on the school website.

Houses

The School has four houses, Agnesi, Brunel, Curie and Darwin (A, B, C and D) named after; mathematician and philosopher, Maria Gaetana Agnesi; engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel; physicist and chemist, Marie Curie; and naturalist and geologist, Charles Darwin.

Inspection

On 16 June 2015 the school was subject to a Pre-registration Inspection by Ofsted under Section 99 of the Education and Skills Act 2008. All of the standard Ofsted inspection criteria were covered with the inspector concluding "The school is likely to meet all the relevant independent school standards when it opens". Revised guidance issued by Ofsted in December 2015 stated "The first inspection of all new schools, including academies, will usually take place within three years of opening. In most instances, we will not select new schools for a first inspection until they are in their third year of operation". Therefore, the next full inspection of The Ongar Academy will likely fall in the 2017/18 academic year, after the planned move to permanent facilities.

Background

The Ongar Academy’s website states The first "Ongar Academy" was opened in 1811 by William Stokes M.A. as a private grammar school for boys. By 1936, Essex County Council had established the Ongar County Secondary School on Fyfield Road, which later became the widely regarded Ongar Comprehensive School". Despite strong local opposition, Ongar Comprehensive School was closed in 1989 leaving the town with no secondary school and children being bussed to schools in neighbouring towns such as Brentwood, Shenfield and Epping.

School4Ongar

In September 2012 a small group of local parents and grandparents, led by Jeff Banks, set up the ‘School4Ongar’ campaign group, with the expressed aim of establishing a secondary free school in Ongar, Essex. In October 2012 the group distributed leaflets to local primary schools to ascertain the level of interest from parents.

The founder members of School4Ongar included Jeff Banks, Anna Wallbank, Pete Marchant, Jan Marchant, Kieran Wallbanks, Terry Banks and Derek Spring. In June 2013, the group secured the backing of local MP, Sir Eric Pickles who said "The lack of a secondary school in Ongar has been an issue for parents and youngsters in the town for many years. With the development which has taken place in and around Ongar recently, there is a convincing argument in favour of a new school in the town which will serve the needs of the local population".

As the project developed, additional group members were brought on board including John Fredericks, James Hannan, David Appleford and Maiken Haaden.

In August 2013, the project was accepted onto the New Schools Network charity’s Development Programme which provides groups with help needed to develop free school applications, securing both consultancy and financial support for marketing activities. In February 2014, the school was officially named The Ongar Academy, with the name being chosen by a focus group of local parents and children. The Ongar Academy Trust was incorporated on 16 April 2014.

Free school application

In May 2014 The Ongar Academy Trust submitted an application to the Department for Education to open a 4 form entry (4 F/E) secondary school from September 2015. The Trust indicated parents had registered interest for 867 children of the right age range across the first seven academic years from 2015/16. Over 1,000 members of the community completed a survey with 98.9% supporting the idea of a secondary school in Ongar.

Approval and pre-opening

On 30 September 2014, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan MP announced that The Ongar Academy had been approved to enter the pre-opening phase, one of 35 new free school applications approved that day, forming part of Wave 7 of the Free Schools programme. The Ongar Academy was one of five schools highlighted in press announcements. The local community run newspaper, Ongar News, stated in October 2014 that The Ongar Academy had "the backing, and more importantly the trust, of the majority of townsfolk". The Ongar Academy entered the pre-opening phase, announcing the appointment of David Grant as the school’s first Headteacher on 29 October 2014 and opening for admissions in November 2014.

Applications were received quickly, with the school reporting it had filled its first form in just one week. The statutory consultation, a pre-condition of signing a free school funding agreement, received 137 responses with 122 (91%) agreeing the Secretary of State and The Ongar Academy should enter into a Funding Agreement to allow The Ongar Academy to open. Independent consultants, Place Group, who managed the consultation, recorded "In Place Group’s experience as educational consultants and project managers to over thirty Academy and Free School projects, these findings are unprecedented in terms of the (Ongar) community support for The Ongar Academy Trust’s proposals to open a Free School in the town".

By April 2015, The Ongar Academy had recruited all of the staff required to open the school to Year 7 students.

Criticism

The Ongar Academy has attracted relatively little criticism. During the pre-application consultation phase only 12 individuals (1.21% of respondents) indicated they were against the establishment of the school, with primary reasons given being unrelated to the proposal to establish a new secondary school (e.g. impact on traffic). A similar number, 12 people, disagreed with the proposal to open the school as part of the Statutory Consultation.

The Educating Brentwood Forum, which opposed the opening of nearby Becket Keys Church of England Free School, expressed concerns regarding evidence of need and demand; perceived competition with Brentwood schools; and the School4Ongar group’s early visit (among visits to several other schools) to IES Breckland school in Brandon, Suffolk. A small number of local residents expressed concern about the vehicular entrance to the proposed new school.