Three Darlington schools to become 21st Century seats of learning (From The Northern Echo)

Three Darlington schools to become 21st Century seats of learning

8:40am Tuesday 1st December 2009 in

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By 2012 Darlington’s schools will be ready for the 21st Century. David Roberts reports.

THREE secondary schools in Darlington are to be transformed into 21st Century seats of learning thanks to £57m of funding.

The announcement that Hurworth, Longfield and Branksome are to benefit from the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme means that every secondary school in the borough will have been rebuilt or significantly refurbished within the past four years. It is hoped work on the three schools will be completed by 2012.

Yesterday, headteachers and councillors said they were delighted by the news, which will allow each school to be significantly rebuilt with some existing buildings retained and modernised.

All three of the schools have older buildings which, in recent years, have proved increasingly unsuitable for modern education.

Last year, each of them had to make emergency closures because of problems with heating and electricity, or gas supplies. The work will include providing Longfield, which has sports college status, with sports facilities, and all three schools will have facilities available to the community and for teaching diplomas.

A further £1.8m will be spent by Darlington Borough Council on the schools and they will also receive a share of £7.6m for teaching the new diplomas.

Hummersknott, Haughton and Carmel RC schools will also receive some of the BSF funding to update and improve ICT systems.

Darlington was one of 12 local authorities across the country to receive a share of nearly £1bn of Government money.

Part of the reason the authority was successful was because it was able to demonstrate that it would be able to implement the work quickly.

Councillor Jenny Chapman, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “We’re ready to go.

“We’ve shown that we can build schools on time and on budget and they had confidence that we could fulfil our side of the bargain.

“We have also worked closely with the schools and they are completely on board.

“We need to ensure that we can get this right “We have got to build the right facilities and that is going to take some very careful planning, and working together with the schools, and listening to what young people want to have in the schools.”

Ms Chapman said: “These will have many benefits to the local economy and will mean jobs and opportunities for people in Darlington that at the moment are struggling. £57m is a serious amount of money.”

Work is expected to start on the schools in 2011 and all three have sites big enough to take new build or remodelling work without disrupting the education of pupils, who will continue to attend school on site.

Last night, Tim Byles, the chief executive of Partnerships for Schools, which administers the BSF funding, said a potential change in government was not likely to affect the funding.

He said: “It’s not for me to say what any future Government would do. We do know that both the major parties reaffirmed their commitment to strategically invest in schools.”

What effect will funding have?

Each of Darlington’s secondary schools will either be refurbished or rebuilt. David Roberts hears what the effect of the £57m funding will be on the town’s schoolchildren.

FOR Councillor Jenny Chapman, it was a question asked by a St Aidan’s Academy pupil that summed up the inequality in Darlington’s schools.

“He came to a cabinet meeting and asked me why it was that he and his fellow pupils have a new school and facilities, while his friends at other schools in Darlington didn’t,” she said.

“This has been a very long process and at several stages I wondered whether the investment, in terms of the time and effort, was going to be worthwhile if it was all going to be for nothing.

“That’s why it is such an important day for us – we know that the work that’s been put in has paid off.”

For Hurworth school, which regularly tops national education league tables, it will now have investment to match its lofty ambitions.

More room to prevent overcrowding and better sports facilities are its priorities.

Chief executive Eamonn Farrar said: “This is something that we’ve been asking for for 14 years.

“There was the feeling that this was our last chance and it was pretty clear that had this money not been brought forward, we were waving goodbye to any major capital investment.

“Now that’s not the case, it’s a huge relief.”

Since being brought out of special measures in 2006, Branksome is making huge strides and recently became a specialist science college.

Headteacher Pat Armstrong said: “My head boy said to me last year that when you go up Eggleston View, the view you get of the school does not reflect the quality of the people inside it.

“We will now have buildings to reflect the quality of the students, the staff and the local community.”

Longfield school is a specialist sports college without specialist sports facilities and the Government cash will rectify this.

Headteacher Keith Cotgrave said: “This is the best Christmas present we could give the children and the community. This investment will be for a generation of children.”

Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson, who represents Hurworth, said: “This is excellent news.

“This shows that the Government is working in partnership with the local authority to provide the best education for the children of the borough and will continue to do so.”

Alan Milburn, MP for Darlington, said: “This is the final piece of the jigsaw in rebuilding and refurbishing Darlington schools.

“Tens of millions of pounds-worth of Government investment has gone into the town and I’m delighted that ministers have responded to the lobbying that I, the council and others have made.”

* Pictured from left, Longfield School headteacher Keith Cotgrave, Hurworth School chief executive Eamonn Farrar, Building Schools for the Future director George McQueen, Hurworth School headteacher Dean Judson and Branksome Science College headteacher Pat Armstrong.