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New Bournemouth and Poole academies set to open for their first term

1:00pm Thursday 2nd September 2010 in


THREE new academies will open their doors to students in Bournemouth and Poole on Monday despite fears they will not receive funding for much-needed building work.

St Aldhelm’s Academy is replacing Rossmore Community College in Poole, the Bourne Academy is taking over from Kings High in Bournemouth and Bishop of Winchester in Bournemouth will also formally take on academy status.

But all three will have to wait at least a month to discover whether they will receive millions of pounds for building work originally promised under the now – abandoned Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project.

Only Ashdown College of Technology in Poole has been assured proposed work will take place and head teacher Liz Jones said: “The BSF programme offers a once-in-a lifetime opportunity for Ashdown to transform learning and raise attainment for all our students.”

But the three new academies now have more control over their finances and curriculum, issues previously dictated by local authorities.

The joint Bournemouth and Poole BSF team plan to continue to work together on the Ashdown project and to do all they can to secure cash for the remaining schools.

The BSF programme has already cost the two councils an estimated £3.5 million.

The money was spent on consultants and other experts with the aim of replacing school buildings described as “unsuitable”, “poor” and “not fit for purpose.”

Comments(10)

mike1213 says...
2:46pm Thu 2 Sep 10

the privatisation of education has now started in poole and bournemouth

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TinyLegacy says...
2:57pm Thu 2 Sep 10

mike1213 wrote:
the privatisation of education has now started in poole and bournemouth
And? Give it a go... might work out for the best, might fail. We wont know unless they try it.

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bmouthrob says...
4:12pm Thu 2 Sep 10

"The BSF programme has already cost the two councils an estimated £3.5 million."

It has cost £3.5 million to work out how to spend other "millions" which now probably won't be spent. This is the sort of corporate nonsense that we have at our work all the time.
How the hell do they justify the £3.5 million spend??!?? I'm in the wrong job I need to become a 'consultant'...

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Branksome Boy says...
4:15pm Thu 2 Sep 10

I know it's mean and spitefull but I can't wait to see all the chavs from Rossmore in their New Uniforms!!!! It's horrendous - worse than the Grammar School Uniform.

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poolebabe says...
4:51pm Thu 2 Sep 10

mike1213 wrote:
the privatisation of education has now started in poole and bournemouth
That's the Tories for you. Look what it did for council services and the NHS. Enough said!! I am cynical to say the least.

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heiterwang says...
5:32pm Thu 2 Sep 10

Tory cynicism knows no bounds. By calling time on the Building Schools for the Future programme which was going to rid our local schools of "unsuitable ... poor .... and not fit for purpose" accommodation, not only did Mr Gove land the council with a hefty bill, but he has also had the gall to give the money saved to schools which have already had vast sums spent on them, calling them academies (or "highly favoured" schools, to be more accurate). Where is the justice in that? How many make-overs should schools be allowed?

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PokesdownMark says...
6:07pm Thu 2 Sep 10

At least The Bourne Academy has an admissions policy that does not require parents to pretend to be religious. Unfortunately the other one probably does.

We do not have a religious test for library membership. We do allow racial discrimination to determine memberships at publicly funded sports facilities. We don't have yellow busses for christians and red busses for others.

So why oh why do we allow the kind of disgusting admissions policies used by half of our schools? We should get faith out of our schools! It is none of their business!

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lovetheuk says...
11:45pm Thu 2 Sep 10

I was listening to radio 4 today and there was a few interviews about schools becoming academies. The show was very balanced but all the so called positive views and arguments for academies just sounded like the 1980ies policies. We now know privatisation was extremely bad for the energy companies. look home much our bills have risen over the past 10 years. If you look on wiki you can read about Milton Friedman the American economist who was awarded nobel prize for economics. He single handedly ruined the american school system and the Condems are following the same path with privatisation. Friedman was also responsible for monetarism which the Thatcher government followed religiously and look ware that got us. I'm afraid that monetarism is back, back by the back door. But most conservative voters don't even know about monetarism or Milton Friedman so don't have a clue what the realities of the policies are or the impact on society. Just remember privatisation is good for share holders only!!!!!!

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The Liberal says...
8:42am Fri 3 Sep 10

PokesdownMark wrote:
At least The Bourne Academy has an admissions policy that does not require parents to pretend to be religious. Unfortunately the other one probably does.

We do not have a religious test for library membership. We do allow racial discrimination to determine memberships at publicly funded sports facilities. We don't have yellow busses for christians and red busses for others.

So why oh why do we allow the kind of disgusting admissions policies used by half of our schools? We should get faith out of our schools! It is none of their business!
I'm happy to say we're atheists if it means not having to send our child to 'St Aldhelm’s Academy'!

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BIGTONE says...
9:36am Fri 3 Sep 10

The Liberal wrote:
PokesdownMark wrote:
At least The Bourne Academy has an admissions policy that does not require parents to pretend to be religious. Unfortunately the other one probably does.

We do not have a religious test for library membership. We do allow racial discrimination to determine memberships at publicly funded sports facilities. We don't have yellow busses for christians and red busses for others.

So why oh why do we allow the kind of disgusting admissions policies used by half of our schools? We should get faith out of our schools! It is none of their business!
I'm happy to say we're atheists if it means not having to send our child to 'St Aldhelm’s Academy'!
You can't judge a book by it's cover.......However,
in your case,you can!

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