 The Trust indicated parents had registered interest for 867 children of the right age range across the first seven academic years from 2015–16.Over 1,000 members of the community completed a survey with 98.9% supporting the idea of a secondary school in Ongar.On 30 September 2014, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan MP announced that The Ongar Academy had been approved to enter the pre-opening phase, one of 35 new free school applications approved that day, forming part of Wave 7 of the Free Schools programme.