Plans are moving forward which could see two new schools opening their doors in Sutton during the next couple years.

Construction firm Wates has been appointed by the Government’s Department for Education (DfE) to design and build the new facilities.

If all goes ahead as planned then they will be operated by the Greenshaw Learning Trust, which currently oversees 11 schools located in Croydon, Sutton, Berkshire and Gloucestershire.

One of them would be a new non-selective mixed comprehensive secondary school, comprising eight forms of entry and a sixth form.

Greenshaw Learning Trust said it’ll be a “separate academy school, managed and funded in its own right like any other academy school” but under its umbrella.

There are plans to open it in 2021, with the possibility of opening temporary accommodation in 2020, while taking in 240 pupils in its first school year.

The school at its full capacity would be 1,200, from Years 7 to 11 with a 400-student sixth form.

Meanwhile, the other school would be for secondary age pupils who are on the autism spectrum with Education Health Care Plans (EHCPs) “relating to moderate ASD”.

Staff at the school will be specialists, the trust says, as there will be teachers, higher level teaching assistants and speech therapists, though it's unclear when it would open.

Both schools will be “co-located on the disused all-weather pitch and part of the southern end of the Sports Village at Rosehill Reaction Ground”, though this is subject to planning permission.

It comes as the site was allocated for a school in the Sutton Local Plan before the council allowed the site to be transferred to the DfE for new schools in December.

Proposals for the school buildings ahead of a planning application being submitted in due course.

Mike Cooper, chair of the Greenshaw Learning Trust, said: “We are delighted that a contractor has been appointed for our new Sutton schools.

“This is a significant step towards realising our ambition to provide an outstanding education and meet the needs for school places within the borough.”