Councillors urged to back new school plan

COUNCILLORS will be asked to back plans for a new school in north Huddersfield to be set up and run by the governing body of a successful secondary in a neighbouring town.

Kirklees Council cabinet is set to decide who will run a school to replace Fartown High, from September this year.

A competition to open a new school was launched last summer and three bidders are in the running. The governing body of Holmfirth High wants to open a trust school while bids for academies have been received from education charity E-ACT and the Wakefield Diocesan Board of Education. A proposal for an academy run by Lilac Schools Ltd was rejected by the Government.

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A report to the council’s cabinet meeting on Tuesday next week says there is strong support for the Holmfirth proposal among existing parents and pupils at Fartown High.

The cabinet members for children and young people’s services, Coun Cath Harris and Ken Smith have recommended supporting this plan.

However the report praises all three bids as being able to meet the council’s goals.

Assistant Director for Learning John Edwards said: “We are delighted to have received three such excellent bids to run the new school.

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“Each one offers different strengths and we can be confident that, whatever the decision, parents and pupils across north Huddersfield will have a very good local school.”

The plan for a new school in North Huddersfield was originally part of Kirklees Council’s Building Schools for the Future bid.

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. However this has now been placed on hold after the coalition Government axed the building programme.