The site at Hopwood Hall College where the temporary school buildings will be situated The Department of Education has lodged plans for a ‘stop-gap’ school at a Middleton college so pupils don’t have to wait for a new one to be built. The application proposes temporary buildings on scrub land at Hopwood Hall College’s Middleton campus, on Rochdale Road. It comes after planners granted outline permission for a new secondary school – dubbed the Edgar Wood Academy – at Bowlee.
But that won’t be ready to open its doors until September 2022 at the earliest – and a shortfall of 114 pupil places is already forecast for Middleton this year.