Funding for Hills Road North Sixth Form College at Waterbeach turned down by government

The principal of Hills Road Sixth Form College has expressed her frustration after funding for it to open a new site in Waterbeach was rejected.

The college applied for government approval for a new sixth-form college site to reduce the pressure on places and cut travel time for students who have long journeys to the city from villages.

The proposed new college, Hills Road North, would have opened in 2026 and expanded the existing capacity to meet the needs of a growing population, particularly in East Cambridgeshire, Fenland and West Suffolk.

College leaders and governors are now looking again at strategic options as the explore what to do to meet the ever-increasing demand for places at the oversubscribed college.

Principal Jo Trump said: “We are really frustrated with this outcome on behalf of future Hills Road students for whom we just won’t have room at the current constrained city site. As a top-performing college, serving a Priority Educational Investment Area that is experiencing dramatic demographic growth, it is hard to see why the government was not prepared to support this bid. It’s particularly hard to take when you realise that all three of the Eton College-sponsored sixth forms have been given the go-ahead, even in locations where there is no demonstrable need.

“In 2024, there will be two new local school sixth forms opening at Cambourne and at Northstowe, which are to be welcomed. They will offer places for approximately 100 students per year group. Even conservative measures of population growth and inward migration to the region, however, suggest that, despite these, there will be insufficient post-16 places to meet demand by the end of this decade. Hills Road very much wanted to be part of the solution here and it is very hard to be facing a future where we will be turning more students away. What we’d like to do is to provide a great sixth-form education for many more students than we can currently: without significant investment from government, that is not possible.”

The proposal was turned down in ‘wave 15’ of applications for the right to build a free school. Hills Road’s governing body had hoped the college in Waterbeach new town would have served up to 1,100 young people aged 16 to 19, reducing travel-to-learn time and improving the progression options for many more young people in the area.

The plan was to open the college in September 2026.

A statement from the college explained: “Hills Road would have been able to offer many more students access to the outstanding standard of education the city centre college is well-known for. This would have had huge benefits to families in terms of travel-to-learn costs.”

Wave 15 of the free schools programme was highly competitive, with 60 potential new schools and colleges nationally making it through to the interview stage in March 2023. Results were delayed, with successful applicants finally being told the outcomes this summer.

No new age 16-19 free schools were agreed anywhere in the East and South East, with all funding for that age group directed north of Birmingham. This is despite Cambridge and Peterborough being two of the fastest growing cities nationally, with population growth showing a steady increase over the coming decade and beyond.

A college statement said: “Hills Road is really disappointed not to have the opportunity to offer its brand of top quality sixth-form education to the growing numbers of 16-year-olds who are currently in local schools. The proposal for Hills Road North was to provide the current Hills Road experience in a brand-new learning environment designed to engage, inspire and challenge students while preparing them exceptionally well for the next stage of their lives.

“Hills Road is known for its wealth of extra-curricular opportunities including full college participation enrichment, the Extended Project Qualification and a host of societies, visiting speakers and trips to support and enrich the curriculum offer as well as for its exceptional results that typically see around 70 students take up Oxford and Cambridge university offers each year. The new college at Waterbeach would have made this educational offer available to many more students with the provision of Hills Road North and the team at Hills Road is deeply frustrated that this has not been possible.”

A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire County Council said: “Ely College was successful in its recent application to the Department for Education to provide additional sixth-form places. As such, we believe there is sufficient sixth-form capacity in East Cambridgeshire.”

However, parents will point that many necklace villages in East Cambridgeshire, including Bottisham, Lode, Swaffham Bulbeck and Burwell have no public transport links to Ely.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “There is a rigorous application process for selecting new free schools in which we consider a range of factors, including the demographic need for the school and the quality of existing provision in the area.

“This was a highly competitive wave and difficult decisions were needed on where the new schools would be likely to have the biggest impact on improving outcomes and deliver the best value for money.”