Schools face major shake-up

9:16am Thursday 20th November 2008

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A £280-MILLION pound scheme to revolutionise secondary school education throughout Wigan borough has been announced.

Proposals will affect all 20 high schools and some could be merged or closed.

By the end of the month Wigan Council must submit their plans and apply for a multi-million pound slice of the government cash on offer in a re-jig of every secondary school in the country.

Plans include the replacement of Hesketh Fletcher at Atherton by a vocational centre for children aged 14 to 19 to learn specialist skills. Lowton and Golborne high schools would merge and a primary school and children’s centre would be established. Other mergers could take place in other parts of the borough.

A second vocational centre for 14-19 year-olds would be created at Pemberton.

Plans revealed this week at a meeting in Wigan include proposals to restructure other schools with extra places for students at Westleigh and Fred Longworth high schools.

Falling numbers - with the borough’s school roll population expected to drop by 4,000 to 17,000 in the next five years - have been taken into account in drawing-up the proposals, which if approved would be funded by the government’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

Nick Hudson, Wigan’s children's services director, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity for Wigan to invest in young people. These opportunities come around once in a lifetime."

Atherleigh councillor and Wigan’s Children and Young People's Champion Cllr Sue Loudon explained: “We’ve not enough children to fill all the schools in the borough. The bid will go in at the end of November but we won’t know if we have been successful until next March.

“Plans include extra places for students at Westleigh and Fred Longworth and a college for 14-19 year-olds at Hesketh Fletcher. We’re hoping this will give students the opportunity to study subjects such as engineering and law.”