School to be run from another town after council gives go-ahead

PLANS for a new school in West Yorkshire to be opened and run by the governing body of a successful secondary in a neighbouring town have been given the go-ahead.

Kirklees Council cabinet has chosen plans for a trust school run by Holmfirth High to open later this year in north Huddersfield.

A competition was run which invited bids to apply to run a school to replace Fartown High, from September this year.

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Three bids were selected as potential winners: the Holmfirth High plan for a trust school and two bids to open an academy from the education charity E-ACT and the Wakefield Diocesan Board of Education.

A trust school has greater control over its budget than a state comprehensive school but it does remain part of the local education authority whereas academies are run independently with funding direct from the Government.

Cabinet members yesterday opted for the Holmfirth High trust school proposal over the academies after being told it had strong support from the existing parents and pupils at Fartown High.

A report to the cabinet praised all three bids as being able to meet the council’s criteria for a new school.

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The plan for the new school was part of Kirklees Council’s Building Schools for the Future bid which was axed last year in Government spending cuts.

The original vision was for the school to open in Fartown High’s buildings this year and move into a new building alongside All Saints’ Catholic College in Huddersfield in 2013, but the plan for a new building for the school is on hold.

Four trade unions in Kirklees are set to hold a joint press conference today in response to Kirklees Council’s decision not to opt for an academy.

Teaching unions the NUT, the NASUWT and ATL and public sector union UNISON are concerned that nine other state schools in the district are considering opting out of council control to become academies.

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Hazel Danson of Kirklees NUT and a national executive member of the union said: “If these schools succeed in becoming academies, properly funded and accountable education across Kirklees will be irreparably damaged and there will be no route back to local authority status.

“These are big decisions that head teachers and governors are taking and it requires a full and open public debate.”

Jo Bailey-Taylor the NASUWT branch secretary for Kirklees said: “The outcome of the north Huddersfield new school competition clearly demonstrates that there is an alternative to academies and where communities are given the information and the choice they will opt to reject them in favour of a good local school.”

Fartown High will close this summer to be replaced with the new trust school in September.