Schools plan axe 'appalling news for local young people'
Schools plan axe 'appalling news for local young people'
"A WASTE of time" and "a lost opportunity" are the words of headteachers let down by the decision to scrap Kirklees' Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme.
After four years of attending meetings that carried on well into the evening, taking part in numerous consultations and holding campaign rallies, parents, teachers and pupils were told this week the 200m plans had been axed.
It means Batley Business and Enterprise College (BBEC) and Batley Girls' High School will not share a building in Batley Field Hill, providing two single-sex schools on one site - a scheme BBEC headteacher Jim Ryan said would have been cutting edge.
But the announcement made by schools minister Michael Gove on Monday has raised questions over the future of Batley Girls as plans for a new academy on the Windmill Lane site are still in discussion.
If the plans are approved, girls would be forced to attend the new academy or leave the area.
The school's headteacher Jackie Eames said she suspected the academy plan would be scrapped too and that Batley's schools would remain as they are.
She said: "I could be selfish and say it's a good thing our very successful school, but I do feel this announcement is appalling news for the young people of north Kirklees.
"A significant investment was needed at the Batley Field Hill site, and it's not going to happen. I am dismayed that people's futures do not seem to matter."
Mr Ryan said he was appalled young people's hopes had been dashed so easily.
"Hours of preparation have been wasted and now the government has missed the chance to make us an exemplar of how two single-sex schools can work together," he said. "This could have been a fantastic learning village; the cutting edge of new development. I hope there is a plan B."
HOMELESS?: Batley Girls' High School will no longer move to Batley Field Hill, but plans to replace it with with a Howden Clough academy are still in discussion.
EMOTIONAL: Parents from all over North Kirklees formed various campaign groups to fight for their wishes. Here, Batley Girls headteacher Jackie Eames encounters Birkenshaw campaigners.
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Weather for Batley
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -3 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
