Information on Loughborough

Transforming learning in Loughborough, Quorn and Barrow

Posted on 04/01/2010

Leicestershire Councty Council Cabinet Office

4 January 2010

Transforming learning in Loughborough, Quorn and Barrow

A major consultation exercise is set to be launched to give people the chance to have their say on options for the future of education in Loughborough, Quorn and Barrow on Soar.

Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet will be asked to give the consultation the go-ahead at its meeting on January 12th.

Schools, governors, parents/carers, pupils and others with an interest in schools in the area would be asked for their views on two options for using around £80 million of Government Building Schools for the Future (BSF) money to transform secondary and special education.

The funding would present a fantastic opportunity to provide 21st Century schools with state-of-the-art facilities and the latest ICT and technology.

The Government has made clear that the BSF money, however, cannot be used to simply replace what already exists – it must be shown how it will be used to boost standards of education and improve pupils’ performance.

Last summer, an initial consultation exercise was undertaken, the results of which showed clear support for transforming learning by developing all through secondary schools.  This removes the need to transfer school at age 14 – a transition which many pupils can find difficult, reflected in lower than expected achievement at the end of Key Stage 4 (age 16) compared with Key Stage 3 (ages 11-14).

A consultation exercise on the options for transforming learning needs to be completed before the County Council can be invited to submit a Readiness to Deliver (RTD) document to the DCSF.  The invite is expected in spring.  The options have been based on the preference of parents and other stakeholders to develop all through secondary schools, the need to remove surplus places and future pupil populations.

Option A would see two brand new schools and four re-modelled schools in Loughborough, Quorn and Barrow.  All secondary schools would be for ages 11-16, apart from De Lisle which would remain as 11-19, and there would be a brand new Post-16 Centre for ages 16-19.  There would be a brand new Rawlins College built on the existing site.  Burleigh, Garendon and Limehurst schools would be replaced with a single brand new school on the Burleigh/Garendon campus.

A new Post-16 Centre would be developed based on part re-modelling and extensive new build on the Limehurst site.  There would be part re-modelling and part new build at Humphrey Perkins, De Lisle and Woodbrook Vale – the latter would be extended to take more pupils.  An Area Special School would also be built on the Burleigh/Garendon site for the re-location of the Ashmount School.

Option B would also provide two brand new schools and four re-modelled schools.  The details are the same as for Option A, apart from the sixth form provision.  Instead of having a new Post-16 Centre built on the Limehurst site, there would be two sixth forms, the first at Rawlins and the second as part of the new school to be built on the Burleigh/Garendon site.

There is no guarantee that Leicestershire will secure BSF funding.  However, work so far has identified the need for reorganisation to help raise standards.  Therefore, if a bid for funding was unsuccessful, an option with reduced work and costs would be developed to bring about change.  If this happened, there would be further public consultation.

There is also an opportunity to develop a new University Technical College (UTC) for Loughborough following an invitation to bid for funding from the DCSF.  The UTC would be run by the University and would offer apprenticeships, diplomas and other vocational qualifications with the core curriculum including English, maths and ICT to 14-19 year-olds - significantly enhancing the BSF bid.  Options A and B take into account student numbers likely to attend the UTC.

The consultation would also ask for views on developing a single catchment area for secondary schools in Loughborough and another for Quorn and Barrow.  If this happened, parents would be entitled to apply to either secondary school within their respective new single catchment area.  Places would be allocated in accordance with the County Council’s normal admissions procedures.

Ivan Ould, County Council Cabinet Member for the Children and Young People’s Service, said: “We have developed some really exciting options for the future of schools in Loughborough, Quorn and Barrow to bring about a transformation in learning for children and young people.

“Consulting on the options put forward would give people the chance to have their say and I would encourage everyone to take the opportunity to do so.”

If given the go-ahead, 16,500 consultation documents would be distributed to schools, governors, parents, carers and others with an interest in schools in the area.

The consultation exercise would run from January 13th to March 2nd.  The results would be reported to Cabinet on March 9th.

For more information, visit: www.leics.gov.uk/loughboroughbsf