Council backs £22-million Wyebridge Academy
Ambitions to transform Wyebridge Sports College into a new, state-of-the art academy have won the backing of Herefordshire Council. The council's cabinet (27 March 2008) approved a 250-page outline business case that should unlock almost £22 million of capital investment from the government to rebuild and refurbish the high school in the South Wye area of Hereford.
Final permission rests with the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families. The funding agreement will be between the sponsors of the academy - the Hereford Diocese - and the government's Partnership for Schools programme.
The academy will aim to raise further the educational achievement of the 900 pupils from years 7-11 it will service. It will be managed as a charitable body subject to the same inspections, admissions and employment framework as other maintained schools. It will serve the same catchment area and its admissions policy remains the same, with no church places to be offered.
The new academy will be built on the existing playing fields of the school and when complete, the present school buildings will be demolished and a new outside sports complex will be constructed.
The sponsors, the school and the council's children and young people's services favour the option. It will provide good access and a better, more integrated design, with buildings positioned away from housing on the boundary, and allows the school and third parties to continue to function in the existing buildings until the academy is completed in 2011. The freehold of the site remains in the ownership of the council.
It is planned that the academy will provide 220 post-16 places, and will build on its specialist 14 to 19 diplomas in sport, health and science.
The principal designate - John Sheppard - was appointed in December 2007 to lead the development of the new school organisation and further appointments will be made in the coming months. Consultants will be engaged to manage the project with government meeting the costs.
The school has made consistent progress, improving five GCSE pass rates from just over ten per cent to 52 per cent in seven years. The right learning atmosphere has been created with improved teaching and learning, but the building needs major investment and the academy programme will enable this to happen. Without it, the school would have to wait until around 2020 for the next wave of the government's Building Schools for the Future programme.
The cabinet also approved in principle the relocation of temporary accommodation for Redhill Residents Association and a bid for funding of £80,000 will be made to the council's capital programme.
