Who we are
"We believe that our community deserves a high performing, well-run, new secondary school to deliver an excellent education to the 70% of our primary school pupils who do not qualify for a grammar school place.”
The Burnham New Secondary School Working Group
​
We are a group campaigning to open a new local non-selective secondary school in Burnham, at the Opendale Road site. We all have an interest and/or experience in education. Our aim is to correct the discrimination against children who do not pass the 11+, which is the vast majority of children in our community.
​
We are supported and guided by Burnham Parish Council, local head teachers and many volunteer members of the community.
​
For the last two years, we have been gathering information including numbers of local pupils and the availability of secondary education in south Buckinghamshire. We have found that Burnham easily has enough local pupils to justify investment in a new school.
​
Having tried numerous approaches to different authorities including Buckinghamshire Council and central government, we are being told repeatedly that there is no local demand for local secondary education. We urgently need the support of the community to demonstrate that this is not the case.
​
Please help by writing to the Secretary of State for Education and the leader of Buckinghamshire Council.
Where do children in the Burnham community go to secondary school?
Burnham is the only town in Buckinghamshire with a grammar school but no non-selective secondary school. This is because Burnham Park Academy was closed – rather than addressing its issues.
​
But children who do not pass the 11+ (over 70%) are discriminated against, with a long journey to school, longer school day and reduced access to extracurricular activities.
​
Most of these children go to Maidenhead schools, at a cost of around more than £1100 per year per child (from September), which parents pay.