YOUNGSTERS have been given fresh hope their ageing school will finally get money to deal with “inadequate” buildings.
Education Secretary Michael Gove has hinted that the Duchess’s Community High School in Alnwick, Northumberland, could benefit from a new method for allocating funding for schools’ capital schemes.
An announcement about a replacement for Labour’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme is due shortly, according to Mr Gove.
His comments come after Berwick MP Sir Alan Beith issued a fresh appeal to the Education Secretary to help the school, which he visited last December.
Speaking in the Commons, the Liberal Democrat MP said: “May I remind him that he has seen for himself the inadequate conditions in which high school pupils in Alnwick are taught?
“When is he going to make an announcement about the capital scheme so that a bid can be put in to help provide a new school?” The Education Secretary said the Berwick MP had made a fair point, adding: “We shall make an announcement shortly.
“I am sorry that we have not yet been able to provide additional support for the Duchess’s High School in Alnwick.
“As he knows, that school was not supported under the old Building Schools for the Future scheme.
“But we hope that the new method of allocating capital for schools, which we will announce, will allow those whose buildings were neglected by the last Government to receive support.”
