 According to school reporting, applications had filled its first form in just one week.The statutory consultation, a pre-condition of signing a free school funding agreement, received 137 responses with 122 (91%) agreeing the Secretary of State and The Ongar Academy should enter into a Funding Agreement to allow The Ongar Academy to open.Independent consultants, Place Group, who managed the consultation, recorded "In Place Group’s experience as educational consultants and project managers to over thirty Academy and Free School projects, these findings are unprecedented in terms of the (Ongar) community support for The Ongar Academy Trust’s proposals to open a Free School in the town".