Last updated at 12:32, Saturday, 19 July 2008

BARROW’S £30m academy could be in doubt.

Anti-academy campaigners claim the current scheme could be changed.

The original government-approved Cumbria County Council plan is to close Alfred Barrow, Thorncliffe and Parkview and replace them with a 1,200-pupil academy at Parkview.

But pressure group Our Schools Are Not For Sale says teachers and governors have been briefed about the possibility of having an academy based on two sites – Parkview and Thorncliffe – rather than one.

OSANFS members told its public meeting on Wednesday that the current scheme is “off the table” and “dead in the water”.

OSANFS chairwoman Nina Hill and member and Barrow borough councillor Mike Stephenson had a meeting with Barrow and Furness MP John Hutton in June.

They claim the MP told them the current scheme may no longer be the right scheme for Barrow, while still supporting an academy.

Mrs Hill and Cllr Stephenson then met Lord Adonis during his Barrow visit this month.

They claim the schools minister acknowledged Parkview and Thorncliffe are viable.

After the meeting Cllr Stephenson said: “On June 20 Nina Hill and I met with our local MP. John Hutton. At this meeting he told us that whilst he still believed academies were the way forward in education, he couldn’t ignore public opinion in Barrow and that the retention of Thorncliffe and Parkview may be a preferred way forward. We told him that we were very encouraged by this change of mind.”

Cllr Stephenson said OSANFS have been informed that Parkview governors and Parkview and Thorncliffe teachers have been told about possible changes.

OSANFS says Dave Kelly, the principal of Barrow Sixth Form College, one of the academy’s three sponsors, addressed governors.

Cllr Stephenson said: “Every indication given was that the present scheme would be shelved in favour of an academy on the Parkview and Thorncliffe sites.”

Anne Attwood, the principal of Furness College, another institution sponsoring the academy alongside the sixth form and the University of Cumbria, said: “Decisions will be made through the feasibility study.

“We have chosen a project management team, it is Mouchel. We have not had our first meeting.

“What we are looking for is the best for Barrow and its communities in the feasibility study. The feasibility study is going ahead and the project team will be in place the week beginning July 28.

“There is going to be a lot more information. What we have is different people with different ideas and I think this will all come out in the feasibility stage. There is still an academy scheme going ahead.”

A spokesman for Mr Hutton said: “John has publicly said from the outset that the potential development of an academy in Barrow offers the prospect of considerable improvements to the educational opportunities for young people in the Furness area. He continues to feel this is so.

He has also publicly said that he recognises that a number of concerns exist but also that these could be addressed.

“It would also be inappropriate to make comment or seek to interpret private discussions as they could be misinterpreted.”

Asked if the current scheme was “dead in the water” Barrow county councillor Jack Richardson, said: “I think we wait and see, I think OSANFS may be a little premature in what they are saying.”

A Cumbria County Council spokesman said: “We cannot delay this scheme. We have consulted on options but there is a certain flexibility in the feasibility stage.

“We don’t want our project to be waylaid or delayed but we will be looking at fine tuning things in the feasibility stage.”

Neither Mr Kelly nor the Department for Children, Schools and Families was available for comment.

First published at 12:06, Saturday, 19 July 2008
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk