UCL Academy to open one year late

Published: 09 September, 2010
by TOM FOOT

THE UCL-sponsored academy school planned for Swiss Cottage will open one year later than expected.

Its first intake of 11-year-old pupils were due to start lessons at the building – at the top end of Adelaide Road – next September.

But the Coalition government review of school building funding has forced University College London and Camden Council to delay the project.

UCL vice-provost Professor Michael Worton said: “It is now apparent that there is no possibility of providing appropriate classrooms at the start of a new school year in 2011, and we have therefore been forced to reconsider our opening date. 

“Children and their families need to have certainty about their secondary school place. It would not be fair to take a risk with the crucial first months of Year 7 pupils in 2011.”

UCL Academy got the go-ahead from the Department of Education on August 6 – five weeks after its £30million funding was placed under review.

Schools chief councillor Heather Johnson said: “This is extremely frustrating for those families who had hoped for a place next year. The delay caused by the Department for Education’s review has cost us an extra year.”

Conservative leader Councillor Andrew Mennear said: “The delays were actually caused by the Labour government unable to stick to its own schedule. We saw this with Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre.”