To approve two major developments in Secondary School Provision within Herefordshire,

namely:

(i)            To approve the choice of The Minster College as the school to be rebuilt under the Building Schools for the Future Pathfinder Project to be completed in the 2009 – 2010 academic year.

(ii)            To support the proposal that Wyebridge Sports College should become a “City Academy” with the Diocese of Hereford acting as principal sponsor.

THAT

(a)            The Minster College be selected under this initiative;

(b)            consideration be given to the relocation of Westfield Special School to the College campus as part of the development; and

(c)            approval be given for the application/expression of interest for Wyebridge Sports College to become a City Academy with the principal sponsor being the Diocese of Hereford.

For recommendation 1, the DfES require the selected school to be the one with the highest

need in terms of the condition of existing buildings and the suitability of the areas for teaching and learning. The Minster College has the highest need.

For recommendation 2, the existing buildings and site at Westfield Special School are inadequate to serve the increasingly severe needs of its students, and the opportunity in terms of integration, site and funding for re-development on The Minster Campus should not

be lost.

For recommendation 3, to sustain the considerable improvement in the standard of teaching

and learning at Wyebridge, a significant investment is needed. The City Academy programme will provide this and on this occasion the DfES has invited the authority to make

an application to join this programme.  This will include a significant remodelling of the site

and buildings.

·           The offer of participating in both DfES schemes could be rejected. However this is felt to be inconceivable given the problems faced and the financial support potentially available.

·           Other high schools could have been considered for the BSF programme but the evidence from the Education Asset Management Plan identifies. The Minster as the school with the greatest building problems.