Academy ‘to improve prospects for young’
Feb 2 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal
A £45m city academy in Northumberland would improve educational standards in an area where students gain the worst exam results in the county, it was said yesterday.
The performance of pupils at Hirst High and its feeder schools in Ashington and Newbiggin-by-the-Sea is described as unacceptable by education officials.
Last year only one in five Hirst High students achieved the equivalent of five GCSEs at grades A to C – the worst results in Northumberland.
In addition, 16% of 16- to 18-year-olds are not in education, employment or training, which is double the county’s average.
Yesterday the county council’s executive was told radical plans to close the nine schools in the Hirst partnership and replace them with an all-age academy for 2,725 students would lead to pupils doing better.
Executive members agreed to start a four-month consultation on the academy. The school would be sponsored by the Church of England and the Duke of Northumberland.
The plans are already under fire from Wansbeck MP Denis Murphy, the local Labour Party and the NASUWT teaching union, because of their radical nature and fears that cutting school sites from nine to four will make education remote from communities.
But yesterday the county council’s head of school improvement Tony Mays said it was imperative to tackle serious problems of academic under-achievement and empty classroom places in the Hirst partnership.
The Hirst area is in the 2% most deprived wards nationally and the local unemployment rate of 8.3% – and 10.5% in the case of males – is among the worst in the country.
A report to councillors yesterday said Hirst High is a school with challenging circumstances and the area’s deprivation justifies investment in a city academy. Margaret Nicholson, the Newcastle diocesan education director for lead sponsor the Church of England, told the executive the academy plans were very exciting and innovative.
“We see the academy working as part of the family of Northumberland schools, not independent from it. It will be Christian but inclusive, and will welcome all comers. Our schools are places of education, not indoctrination.”
She said the academy would be non-selective and cater for youngsters aged three to 19, with an emphasis on literacy from the word go. It would specialise in design and the built environment, an area of interest to co-sponsor Northumberland Estates.
The academy would be on four sites in the two neighbouring communities. Schools which would close in August next year are Hirst High, Seaton Hirst Middle and Coulson Park, Hawthorn, Welbeck and Alexandra First in Ashington and the middle school and Moorside and Windsor First in Newbiggin. A main 1,720-student academy school would be built on the Hirst High site with separate secondary, primary and special educational needs elements.
Three primary academies, catering for youngsters aged three to 11, would be created on the Newbiggin Middle and Ashington Alexandra and Hawthorn First School sites, accommodating more than 1,000 pupils.
The academy would attract more than £42m in funding from the Department for Children, Schools and Families, with the county council contributing £2m. The two sponsors would not contribute to the capital costs, but would invest money in a trust fund for the long-term benefit of the academy.
Last night Mr Murphy said: “I still have a number of concerns about the overall scheme. This is a time for the county council to be listening to what people in the area are saying and responding to their genuine concerns.
“I am particularly worried about the situation in Newbiggin, where three schools would be replaced by one. I will be making a submission to the consultation process that they should consider having two separate sites for the academy in Newbiggin, involving some new build.“
