Joy Morrissey MP is upping her call for the government to open a non-selective secondary school in Burnham, describing it as an ‘untenable’ situation for parents and children.

The MP has been campaigning to open a new school at the former site of the E-ACT Burnham Park Academy on Opendale Road after it was closed in 2019 following an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted rating and decline in pupil numbers.

Burnham is the only place in the county to have a grammar school – Burnham Grammar on Hogfair Lane – but no corresponding on-selective secondary.

In a letter addressed to the new Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, Ms Morrissey said the need for a secondary school in the village had only continued to grow in the last five years.

She wrote: “I am deeply concerned about the significant impact that the current lack of provision is having on young people and their families. This situation forces many students to travel considerable distances to attend school, which affects their well-being.”

It comes after local councillors told the Free Press that Buckinghamshire Council had reduced its bus capacity across the country, an issue worsened by bus companies also pulling out of the area.

Carol Linton, vice chair of Burnham Parish Council, said parents of children at Bourne End Academy were “going scatty” after the school scrapped its bus service for pupils in Burnham.

She said: “Parents have been told to hire a minibus. The cheapest offer they have got is £3,000 per child for a sixteen-seater minibus.”

Ms Morrissey echoed these concerns in her correspondence to Ms Phillipson, highlighting the “financial burden of transportation (that is) becoming or could become untenable”.

Adding: “I believe that establishing a secondary school in Burnham would significantly benefit the community by providing accessible, high-quality education to local children and alleviating the financial and emotional pressures on parents.

“I would be grateful if we could arrange a meeting at your earliest convenience to discuss this issue in more detail.”

The MP for Beaconsfield has worked with Slough MP Tan Dhesi to bring attention to the Burnham Secondary School cause since 2019 – with the two recently re-elected officials consistent in their positions that a new establishment would benefit families on both sides of the Buckinghamshire and Berkshire border.