I’ve visited every school in Brentwood and Ongar in the last four years and, although I would never say I had a favourite to visit again, it is always a pleasure to return to the Endeavour Cooperative Academy on Hogarth Avenue.
The Endeavour provides an unmatched calm and professional environment for children with moderate learning difficulties. These are children for whom a mainstream school environment would not work but the staff and ethos at the Endeavour allow them to learn to be as independent as possible in a world which is not always sensitive to those with learning difficulties.
In the last year the Endeavour’s head, John Chadwick, has been applying for funding for a sixth form for the school, and for help in improving the school buildings. When I met John earlier this year, he was quick to draw my attention to the fact that the school had buildings ‘in the worse condition in England’, and had been put forward for funding from the School Rebuilding Programme.
This month it’s been confirmed the Endeavour is being prioritised for funding and one or more buildings at the school will be replaced or refurbished, as appropriate for the condition of the buildings on its site.
It’s been an especially tough year for the pupils at the Endeavour with so much uncertainty about when they would and would not be in school during the pandemic, and I am delighted they and all the staff at the school can look forward to the prospect of some new buildings in the near future. It is no less than they deserve, and I look forward to returning to the school to see how work is progressing.
