New primary school at Rochester Riverside opening delayed

A primary school on a new housing development will not open in September as planned.

Rochester Riverside CoE Primary School was earmarked to open next term, but supply chain issues mean it will not happen.

The school is being built as part of the 1,400-home Rochester Riverside development which is currently under construction by Countryside and Hyde.

It is being run by the Pilgrim Multi-Academy Trust and pupils starting in September will now instead learn at The Pilgrim School in Borstal on a temporary basis.

Medway Council said parents had been contacted about the change of plans but it is not yet confirmed how many children are affected.

Proposals to build a two-storey school with two-form entry and space for 420 pupils were approved in May 2020 and work started last July.

A spokesman from Countryside and Hyde did not elaborate on the details of the issues causing the delay.

They said: “Working closely with Medway Council and The Pilgrim Multi-Academy Trust, we can confirm that an alternative site has been found for the temporary Rochester Riverside primary school at another Pilgrim Trust site, which will be ready for the new term in September.

"We are disappointed that the new school buildings won't be available for the start of this school year, but we will continue to work closely with Medway Council and Pilgrim Multi-Academy Trust to seek to minimise the disruption this may cause.”

Cllr Clive Johnson (Lab) said news of the delay was not good enough after it emerged last month how secondary school pupils enrolled at the new Maritime Academy in Frindsbury will have to learn at a temporary site at Twydall Primary School come September.

The Leigh Academy in Rainham was also originally earmarked to open in September 2020, but did not open until the following year.

Cllr Johnson said: "This is the third government Free School project in Medway that has not opened on time, out of three schemes.

"Again, it throws young people and their families into chaos at the last minute.

"Council officers will, as they have had to do before, work hard at short notice, to mitigate the impact.

"But the government needs, urgently, to get a grip on their free school programme.

"These Medway young people are just starting at school. Their lives have already been disrupted by the pandemic and what they urgently need is a school environment that is stable and secure and which rapidly becomes familiar."

The development at Rochester Riverside is due to host a nursery, offices, open green spaces, and already has a hotel, Co-op supermarket and a Costa Coffee.