A NEW free school could open in Oldham by 2022 to help combat the shortage of secondary places in the borough.

The council’s cabinet member for education revealed the plans during public question time at Thursday’s full council meeting.

“There is a new free school opening in east Oldham in September 2020, Oasis Academy Leesbrook,” Cllr Paul Jacques said.

“There is also the possibility of a new school in west Oldham in September 2022 which is currently being investigated and a site selection process is being undertaken.”

No further details were given about the potential location or who would run the school.

However, last month Oldham MP Jim McMahon tweeted that he had taken part in a meeting with Blue Coat School, Oldham Interfaith Forum and the council to discuss ‘their ambitions for a new school’.

“Blue Coat provide outstanding education and there is a pressing need for school places and a high performing school reflecting our diverse town,” he posted.

Cllr Jacques was responding to a question from Mohammed Jia Uddin, who queried why North Chadderton school had been given £3.5 million to expand its school places, over Hathershaw College.

His written question, read out by the Mayor Javid Iqbal, said: “North Chadderton School was chosen ahead of Hathershaw College citing additional refurbishment costs. But this wasn’t detailed in the report nor was it scrutinised.

“It was reported (in the local press) that the council took 75 seconds to come to this decision to expand North Chadderton which clearly indicates that adequate scrutiny was not offered to this decision.

“The parents of Coppice are frustrated that most of their children are excluded from attending Hathershaw College as priority is given to the feeder schools.

“Will the council seriously look into the expansion of Hathershaw College in the immediate future, given the acute shortage of secondary places for the residents of Coppice.”

Cllr Jacques responded that forecasts predicted that by next September, 110 more places would be needed in year seven, and this would increase to 150 by 2022.

“If the trend follows the primary school projections then the additional places will be needed in Chadderton and east and west Oldham,” he told the meeting.

“There are a number of schemes that have been discussed and scrutinised at the education provision group which seeks to address the pressure and satisfy the demand in the borough, ensuring our statutory duty of providing school places is adhered to.”

The opportunity to extend existing secondary schools had been evaluated using the ‘secondary priority matrix’, he explained.

This system takes into account criteria such as Ofsted ratings, progress and results, site conditions and the cost per pupil place.

Cllr Jacques added: “Using this criteria the priority for school expansion at the current time is North Chadderton School.

“The Radclyffe School and Hathershaw College were the next priorities according to the local authority expansion criteria.

“These options were looked at and analysed. The amount of places in west Oldham wanted more than could physically be put on the Hathershaw site.”