Academy bosses have revealed the opening date of a new £20 million secondary school in Canterbury.

Work is well underway on the demolition of the former Chaucer Technology School in Spring Lane which will be replaced by the state-of-the-art Barton Manor School, now scheduled to open in September 2022.

The build is a joint partnership between Kent County Council, the Department for Education and Barton Court Academy Trust but has been subject to a number of delays, more recently due lockdown.

The trust will take possession of the building in the second quarter of 2022 to provide time for the school to be made ready for opening to year seven students in September 2022.

Catering for 1,050 pupils, the school will be set across a split-level two and three-storey building and take approximately 20 months to build.

Executive headteacher of Barton Court Academy Trust Kirstin Cardus said it is a "truly exciting" project which offered an amazing opportunity to design a school from inception.

"It will provide Canterbury and the local area with much needed secondary school places," she said.

Barton Manor will be a five form, secondary, non-selective school and work closely with Barton Court Grammar School.

Ms Cardus continued: "It will provide an outstanding standard of education for all students, harnessing the academic track record of the grammar with the state-of-the-art facilities and innovative curriculum provided by Barton Manor School."

She says the new school will be a centre of excellence for applied studies with specialist facilities.

"This will create a unique opportunity for the local area with a new free school built on a strong foundation of success coupled with brand new modern facilities to complement high standards and achievement," she added.

Barton Manor will feature 7,200sq m of teaching space, with both traditional spaces and modern vocational training studios for subjects including catering, resistant materials, hair and beauty therapy, performing arts, ICT, business and health and social care.

The aim is to give students industry standard resources and a 21st century working environment to develop career-based skills, including advanced modern apprenticeships.

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