Campaign for new non-selective school in Cranbrook gathers pace

A group campaigning for a new secondary school to serve the Weald is inviting parents to attend a public meeting next month.

Support Weald Schooling is laying on two meetings at the Vestry Hall in Cranbrook, to give supporters a choice of times.

They will be at 9.30am and 7.30pm on Wednesday, November 13.

Support Weald Schooling argues that children in Benenden, Biddenden, Colliers Green, Cranbrook, Frittenden, Goudhurst, Hawkhurst, Headcorn, Rolvenden, Sissinghurst and Staplehurst are suffering because of the absence of a local secondary school and so are forced to make long journeys daily.

Their choice is Mascalls in Paddock Wood (11.4 miles away), Homewood in Tenterden (10 miles), Cornwallis in Maidstone (10.9 miles) or Uplands in Wadhurst (12 miles).

The campaigners have already persuaded more than 1,120 people to sign a petition calling on KCC to provide a new non-selective secondary school and are inviting others to sign too via this link.

Cranbrook has the highly rated Cranbrook School for children who pass the Kent Test, but no non-selective school since the closure of the High Weald Academy in 2022, when the Leigh Academies Trust which was running the High Weald opened Snowfields, a specialist school for children with learning difficulties instead.

Campaigners argue that there is still room on the old High Weald site for a new non-selective school.

The Department for Education has acknowledged that the area is a “cold spot” for senior education yet the primary schools within a seven-mile radius of the town see 530 children leave primary education each year who need a secondary place.

David Selby of the Support Weald Schooling Steering Group, said: “Children as young as 11 are leaving home before 7am to get to school.

“They are literally being bussed out of their home town.

“Their primary school friendship groups are exploded across a range of secondary schools.

“In some families, siblings are even being sent in opposite directions to different schools.

“For a growing number of parents, the situation is so intolerable they are opting to home-school them.”

The campaigners say that KCC’s plans to expand the existing school provision at Mascalls in Paddock Wood does not address the issue of bringing education closer to the homes of children in The Weald.

Mr Selby said: “Our cross-parish outreach has shown that there is a wealth of support for our plan from parents, primary schools, communities and businesses within the affected villages and towns.

“We know that the site previously occupied by the High Weald Academy in Cranbrook has the potential to house a new school, while keeping the current Snowfields special educational needs school in place.”

The headmaster of Cranbrook School, David Clark, is among those who have spoken out in favour of a new non-selective school in the town.

He said: “We are supporting the campaign as robustly as we possibly can.”

Kim Fletcher, the chairman of Cranbrook and Sissinghurst Parish Council, said: “We encourage people to come to the meetings.

“We have plans to share, but also want to hear parents’ views as to what the future could hold.

“I would urge people to come and to have their voice heard. Together, we can push harder to bring learning closer to home.”