BLACKBURN with Darwen and Bolton Councils are joining forces to mastermind a £500million revamp of local education.
Both authorities are in the process of planning their part in the Government's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme, which aims to rebuild or remodel every secondary school across the UK.
The councils have teamed up in a bid to attract top architects and builders to implement the scheme.
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As part of wave four of the BSF programme, Blackburn with Darwen Council is several stages ahead of Bolton, which hopes to be in wave 6a.
The authority has just submitted its outline business case to the Government, detailing the £150million plans to rebuild or remodel nine schools in the borough, starting in 2010.
This document was produced following a six month consultation period last year which was fraught with controversy.
Under the scheme, Beardwood Humanities College in Preston New Road will close, and three new "superschools" would be built by 2012 on the sites of Pleckgate and Witton Park High Schools, and a new East Blackburn Community to replace Blakewater College. The rest of the borough's secondary schools will be extensively refurbished.
In Bolton, 17 schools are to be developed, at a total of £370million.
Blackburn with Darwen education chiefs have agreed to work with Bolton Council to form a Local Education Partnership with a selected private sector developer and ICT provider, which will be responsible for rebuilding or redeveloping all 26 schools across both boroughs.
Project teams, and later schools, will work together to share expertise, resources, ideas and learning.
Once funding is secured, both councils will begin the procurement process to find the private sector design and construction partners who can successfully turn their plans into reality.
Councillors Colin Rigby, Conservative leader, David Foster, Liberal Democrat leader, Tony Melia, For Darwen leader and Kate Hollern Labour leader said in a joint staement: "Our new partnership means we will work together on that process to ensure we secure the highest quality private sector partners to maximise the impact of our plans in each borough."
The agreement was signed at Turton Tower on April 23 by the councils' chief executives.
Posted by: Montgomery Clift, Beverly Hills on 3:57pm Tue 6 May 08
I've just remembered - I've left the washing out. I'll have to nip back home. If Father O'Reilly calls, tell him I'll have to come to confession tomorrow.
I've just remembered - I've left the washing out. I'll have to nip back home. If Father O'Reilly calls, tell him I'll have to come to confession tomorrow.
Posted by: Jay, Asguard Homeworld on 7:01pm Tue 6 May 08
Does it come as some surprise - yes, probably to many who blithely get lead like lambs to the slaughter, cos they believe the 'spin spin spin' of these superschool/academie
s, that 'their child' will be given the best education - that some parents in the United Kingdom are desperately trying to REMOVE their children from these monstrous accidents waiting to happen so their child can get a quality education at other schools?
Don't be fooled by the promise of 'better education'. 10 years ... 10 years, lessons go unheard ...
Education should be tailored to the individual child's needs first and foremost. Yes, give them a stable environment in which to do so but, please, not at the expense of bringing in architects and spending millions.
In the end it's your children who will lose out. Yet, many will support these schemes purely for their own ends and because they naively believe their children will get the better education.
Most supporting them probably send their kids privately anyway. What was that Labour said about schools 10 years ago ...? lol
Yeah, that's why many parents in such catchment areas ... well, the infos out there for anyone able to use Google, read Ceefax or any of the other facilities on your TV. Not hard to find, even when you're not looking for it.
As to superschools ... you need only look at the chaos that has become Blackburn Royal Hospital to understand they just do not work . Just create a worse problem.
Trouble is, politicians continually strive to reinvent the wheel. Except they forget it's already been invented. And look what a hellish mess they have created in the UK.
Schools used to be about educating kids. Now they are about bringing in top designers. Ironic is that some schools ban designer labels yet here they are doing the exact same thing in reverse!
Does it come as some surprise - yes, probably to many who blithely get lead like lambs to the slaughter, cos they believe the 'spin spin spin' of these superschool/academie
s, that 'their child' will be given the best education - that some parents in the United Kingdom are desperately trying to REMOVE their children from these monstrous accidents waiting to happen so their child can get a quality education at other schools?
Don't be fooled by the promise of 'better education'. 10 years ... 10 years, lessons go unheard ...
Education should be tailored to the individual child's needs first and foremost. Yes, give them a stable environment in which to do so but, please, not at the expense of bringing in architects and spending millions.
In the end it's your children who will lose out. Yet, many will support these schemes purely for their own ends and because they naively believe their children will get the better education.
Most supporting them probably send their kids privately anyway. What was that Labour said about schools 10 years ago ...? lol
Yeah, that's why many parents in such catchment areas ... well, the infos out there for anyone able to use Google, read Ceefax or any of the other facilities on your TV. Not hard to find, even when you're not looking for it.
As to superschools ... you need only look at the chaos that has become Blackburn Royal Hospital to understand they just do not work . Just create a worse problem.
Trouble is, politicians continually strive to reinvent the wheel. Except they forget it's already been invented. And look what a hellish mess they have created in the UK.
Schools used to be about educating kids. Now they are about bringing in top designers. Ironic is that some schools ban designer labels yet here they are doing the exact same thing in reverse!
Posted by: Jennie, Blackburn on 9:17pm Tue 6 May 08
This is a silly idea. Why don't they stop meddling with the education system. This is another waste of money which could be spent on better education. White Elephant alert. What about repairing the damaged caused by the failing/failed inclusion policy, and allow the kids to return to calm in the classrooms.
This is a silly idea. Why don't they stop meddling with the education system. This is another waste of money which could be spent on better education. White Elephant alert. What about repairing the damaged caused by the failing/failed inclusion policy, and allow the kids to return to calm in the classrooms.
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