The school will be created at Homes England’s new Brookleigh 3,500 housing scheme near Burgess Hill and is designed to be the first school in West Sussex to achieve Passivhaus certification.

Graham Hyslop, Homes England’s project director, said: “Homes England is committed to providing new schools as part of a truly sustainable community at Brookleigh.

“This planning approval is great news, and we’ll continue to work closely with West Sussex County Council and the University of Brighton Academies Trust as the ambitious design is built.”

West Sussex County Council has approved capital funding of £57m to build the secondary school, making it the largest capital project the council has delivered.

Major new secondary school will be built on a sloping site and is planned to open in September 2025

The new secondary school is being delivered through the County Council’s multi-disciplinary consultancy partnership with Faithful+Gould, Atkins and Cundalls leading on the design.

It is understood the project will be awarded through the Southern Construction Framework with Willmott Dixon and Kier believed to be in the hunt.

Net-zero in operation, the building has energy efficiency at the heart of every area of its design.

Its position will provide maximum sunlight to nearly 1,000 solar photovoltaic panels generating an estimated 296,000 kWh of energy a year.

Main entrance area for school designed by Atkins

Richard Christmas, lead designer at Atkins, said: “This is a really positive step forward for the proposed school which has been designed to promote well-being and educational attainment for all learners who use the building and create a project with a low environmental impact.”