Some pupils from Turing House School will be on the move next year- to temporary premises 1.5 miles away. 

The popular free secondary school, run by the Russell Education Trust, doesn’t have enough room for the 150 new pupils being admitted next September.

To bridge the gap before its proposed permanent site in Whitton is ready in 2020, Richmond Council has offered the use of the Clarendon School site in Hampton, which will be vacated in July, subject to formal council decision-making.

Year 7 will move to the new site in September 2018, followed by Year 8 in 2019. 

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), whose task it is to secure sites for free schools, will make some adaptations to the Clarendon buildings to make them suitable for Turing to use.

Clarendon's new buildings at Richmond Education and Enterprise Campus in Twickenham ought to be ready at the same time.

Councillor Susan Chappell, Richmond Council's strategic cabinet member for children’s services and schools, said: “We have long been a supporter of the establishment of Turing House and the demand from its parents for an excellent school – which the head Colin MacKinlay is striving to provide.

“But, I know that the negotiation between the ESFA and Hounslow Council has taken longer than expected and parents will be anxious.

“I am therefore delighted that we have been able to step in and offer this opportunity to keep this school going, growing and local.”

Its eventual permanent home is hoped to be a site on Hospital Bridge Road in Whitton, but planning permission for a school hasn’t be obtained yet and work isn’t expected to start until 2018.

Cllr Chappell added: “Whilst we have longer-term plans to sell the Clarendon site and raise some much-needed income, I’m very pleased that we have been able to give certainty for children and their parents and carers, both current and prospective, well ahead of the closing-date for 2018 entry applications on October 31.”