A village in Buckinghamshire needs a new secondary school, MPs have said after the old one closed and was controversially used to film a Netflix series.
Burnham has been without a non-selective secondary school since 2019 when the E-Act Burnham Park Academy shut its doors after being rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted.
The village is still served by Burnham Grammar School, which is a selective secondary, meaning children must take the 11 Plus entrance exam to qualify for a place there.
Joy Morrissey, the Conservative MP for Beaconsfield and Tan Dhesi, the Labour MP for Slough have criticised the lack of a non-selective secondary school in Burnham.
READ MORE: Bucks parents face four-figure school transport sums
The MPs told the Bucks Free Press they had put their political differences aside to join forces in the campaign for a new school.
Ms Morrissey said: “The impact on young people and the cost to parents of the long travel to other schools is too much and we need a local school that will serve families in Burnham and the neighbouring areas of Slough and the Farnhams.”
The two MPs met campaigners last week to discuss their next steps and heard from Burnham families about the challenges of sending their children to places like Bourne End for school, with some parents facing thousands of pounds in transport costs.
Buckinghamshire Council, which owns the closed academy, has angered families by claiming the school ‘is not viable’, while being paid £434,000 since 2021/22 from companies filming at the site, including for Netflix series Heartstopper.
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