A NEW primary school being built in Wellington will miss its scheduled opening in September because of the coronavirus emergency and a wet winter.

Pupils set to start at the Isambard Kingdom Brunel School (IKB) will instead have to attend Wellesley Park Primary School for the first two months of term.

But they will be taught as if they were on a separate campus on the Wellesley Park school site with their own entrance and arrangements until IKB School is ready to take them.

IKB School is being built on a site in Thomas Place, on the new Longforth Farm housing estate, and should have been opening its doors for the first time on September 7.

However, the building works have been delayed due to the current pandemic and wet winter, and the school is not now expected to be ready until after the October half-term holiday, meaning pupils would attend for the first time on November 2.

IKB School is part of the Castle Partnership Trust, based at Castle School, Taunton, which also runs Wellesley Park and Court Fields School, in Wellington.

Wellesley Park head teacher Carly Wilkins told parents of her pupils this week: “In consultation with the trust it has been agreed that IKB pupils will be temporarily based at Wellesley Park Primary School.

“IKB will be a separate school on our site. There will be no impact on the children of Wellesley Park nor a reduction of resources.

“In fact, I have negotiated to secure some additional capital funding for Wellesley Park which will lead to some additional refurbishments.”

IKB headteacher Richard Healey has moved from head for the past three years of Perry Court E-ACT Academy, Bristol, where he took it from the lowest performing primary school in the city to the highest performer and also saw it nominated in 2019 for the prestigious Times Educational Supplement Primary School of the Year award.

Mr Healey, who took charge of the primary school in April, said: “The plans in place demonstrate the true meaning of a trust working relationship. Everyone concerned with IKB is grateful to all at Wellesley Park for not only

accommodating us, but for ensuring the transition is smooth and specific to meeting the needs of our children and families.”

Castle School head teacher Sarah Watson announced this month that she would retire next January but would stay on as chief executive of the trust, working three days a week.

She said: “This is a really exciting time for the trust as we open our third school in Wellington. We have seen Wellesley Park recover its reputation as one of the best schools in Somerset since Mrs Wilkins took over, and with Mrs Matthews at the helm of Court Fields we are seeing our local secondary go from strength to strength.

“With IKB joining us, the trust is now becoming rooted in Wellington and we will be looking at a name change to reflect that in the near future.

“My role is also changing in January when I will just be working as chief executive and we will have a new headteacher at The Castle.

“With the appointment of a trust lead for Social Emotional and Mental Health, Sarah Sherring, and our trust SENDCo, Clair Owen, we will be able to fulfil our mission to identify children’s needs very early on and make sure that every child in the trust has what they need to be confident and successful learners no matter what part of the educational journey they are on.”

The school’s name caused controversy in Wellington – town councillors pointed out that Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel did not have any connections with the town other than building the Great Western Railway – now the Paddington to Penzance line – which passes through.

Councillors were also critical of the school’s design, objecting to it being constructed of modular Portakabin units.