PM is told about fears for school

Nov 26 2007 by Dave Black, The Journal

FEARS over the future of a Northumberland school which will be competing for students with a new, £30m city academy have been raised with the Prime Minister.

Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell secured a brief meeting with Gordon Brown this week to voice his concerns over a possible threat to the viability of Blyth Community College from the town’s all-age Bede Academy, sponsored by the Emmanuel Schools Foundation (ESF).

Now he is planning a follow-up meeting with schools secretary Ed Balls to seek assurances over the 1,300-student Community College, which was opened five years ago by merging Blyth’s former Ridley and Tynedale High Schools

Planning approval was granted on Thursday for the ESF’s 1,150-student secondary academy on the former Ridley site, which is scheduled to open in September 2009.

Mr Campbell, together with governors at the Community College, fear the new academy could strip it of the best students and much-needed income, and question whether there are enough youngsters in the Blyth area to support both schools.

Yesterday he said: “I am told by the county council that the college will be all right but that is not enough to satisfy me.

“I have seen the figures on student numbers in Blyth and they don’t seem to add up to me. The question remains, can the town sustain two big secondary schools. They closed the two high schools and created the community college because there were not enough students seven years ago, yet now we are being told there are enough for an academy as well. That worries me greatly, and is why I raised the issue with the Prime Minister.

“I want the college to be the best and to be able to challenge the new academy, and as long as I am the MP for Blyth Valley I will make sure that everything possible is done to support it. I believe it will be at a disadvantage compared to the Vardy academy and I am trying to make sure that all of my constituents in Blyth get a fair deal.”

Northumberland County Council says there will be sufficient students aged from 11 to 18 in Blyth to justify both the community college and the Bede Academy. This is partly because axing middle schools will mean more student numbers for the new secondary tier of schools.

Yesterday, children’s services executive member, Jim Wright, said: “We have absolutely no doubt at all that a second secondary school is desperately needed in Blyth. Plans for more housing development in the town could also create extra demand in the future.

“I believe Blyth Community College and the Vardy academy will complement each other, not compete, and that there will be mutual benefits.

“The college is a good school and so will the new academy be.”