CHILDREN living on a new housing estate between Taunton and Wellington WILL have to travel to Wellington in the autumn until their new primary school can be completed.

The Orchard Grove Primary School will serve the Comeytrowe development of the same name on the western edge of Taunton, where Taylor Wimpey and the Vistry Group are in the process of delivering up to 2,000 homes by 2028.

Despite reports last week that the school would be ready in time and pupils would not need to travel from Taunton, the Castle Partnership Trust has confirmed they will indeed be bussed to Wellington for an indefinite period of time.

The trust said the youngsters would attend classes in its sister primary school, Isambard Kingdom Brunel (IKB), on the Longforth Farm estate in Wellington.

A spokesperson said: “The supervised journey will take less than 10 minutes and will collect from the Orchard Grove development.”

Somerset County Council approved plans for the £7.3 million new school in December 2022, with construction formally starting in mid-May.

Somerset Council, which replaced the county council in April, has confirmed that the first cohort of pupils will be taught in Wellington within the same multi-academy trust until the new school is finished.

A spokesman said: “Our current plans are that pupils will be bussed to Isambard Kingdom Brunel school in Wellington from September, 2023.

“The new Orchard Grove school building is expected to be ready for actual occupation in the summer of 2024. This has always been the plan.”

The Castle Partnership Trust currently runs Castle School, in Taunton, and IKB, Wellesley Park, and Court Fields schools, in Wellington.

The trust is currently in the process of merging with the Uffculme Academy Trust, which runs five schools straddling the Somerset-Devon border, including Holyrood Academy, in Chard, and Neroche County Primary School, in Broadway, near Ilminster.