New Exeter school to open next year

Matford Brook Academy will be 'all-through' school

A new school being built on the edge of Exeter is to be called the Matford Brook Academy.  

The campus will cater for both primary and secondary schoolchildren and has been many years in the planning. 

Located to the south west of the city, it will serve families at a massive new development of more than 2,000 homes currently being built on land spanning two district council areas, Exeter and Teignbridge.

The school will be run by the Ted Wragg Trust, named after a leading education professor from Exeter University who died in 2005.

The new Matford Brook Academy was conceived by the late Sam Kinsella who wanted to create a new free school, originally named as Exeter Creative School.

In 2015, they collaborated with the Ted Wragg Trust to apply to the Department for Education to open the school near the new housing development.

Ms Kinsella died the following year, but legacy will be the Matford Brook Academy which is set to open in September 2023.

Moira Marder, chief executive of the Ted Wragg Trust, said: “I am so proud to include Matford Brook Academy into our ambitious and inclusive trust of schools who aim to strengthen communities through excellent education. We look forward to serving the community to ensure the highest level of education is provided to every child, every day."

Ms Kinsella's family said: “We are all so pleased to hear about the progress of the newly named Matford Brook Academy. Sam dedicated her life and career to helping people, through running her charity and working as a creative educator with people from all walks of life. She was incredibly resourceful and tenacious; so, once she had the idea for a school, nothing was going to stop her!
 
"We are incredibly proud of her achievement in bringing this idea to life. We hope that Sam's vision of a place where children have the opportunity to explore, connect and be recognised through creative learning will now endure.”

Families who want to send their children to the school will be able to apply for this autumn.