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19-10-2004, 13:43
Another good news story for Sheffield (from the pages of The Star):
FIVE more Sheffield schools are to be rebuilt as part of £140milllion plans which will begin to sweep away the city's last crumbling comprehensives.
Newfield, Silverdale, High Storrs, Firth Park and Yewlands will all be given major overhauls, with over 6,500 pupils set to benefit from new facilities due to open in September 2008.
A parallel £8 million scheme to rebuild Chaucer begins next Easter and is expected to be completed in 2006.
The overall package will also pay for the construction of two new special schools in the north and south of the city and two units for excluded pupils.
The project is the first of three phases which will eventually refurbish all those secondaries that have missed out on improvements so far.
Newfield, Silverdale and one of the special schools will be rebuilt thanks to a partnership with the private sector costing £80 million.
The rest of the work will be paid for by £52 million of conventional borrowing, with nearly £10 million paying for the latest IT facilities.
Sheffield will have to find a small percentage of the cash from its own secondary education budget, around £1.3 million. Hammering out the details of who will pay what has slowed the project down after the broad outlines were first revealed last February.
The project will be completed two years later than first predicted, but Coun Angela Smith, cabinet member for education and training, said it was important to get everything right. "We don't want to make the mistakes of the 1960s, when schools built then are now ready to be pulled down. We want designs of the highest quality," she said. "All our secondary pupils will now be able to look forward to top class facilities coupled with high quality teaching and learning. They deserve the best."
Education chiefs hope first class schools will also produce first class results and higher post-16 staying on rates.
Mark Peat, head of education planning and development, said: "IT facilities will transform the curriculum and the way children learn, and also the way schools are designed."
The council will sign a deal with a consortium of companies who will then undertake all three phases of rebuilding.
FIVE more Sheffield schools are to be rebuilt as part of £140milllion plans which will begin to sweep away the city's last crumbling comprehensives.
Newfield, Silverdale, High Storrs, Firth Park and Yewlands will all be given major overhauls, with over 6,500 pupils set to benefit from new facilities due to open in September 2008.
A parallel £8 million scheme to rebuild Chaucer begins next Easter and is expected to be completed in 2006.
The overall package will also pay for the construction of two new special schools in the north and south of the city and two units for excluded pupils.
The project is the first of three phases which will eventually refurbish all those secondaries that have missed out on improvements so far.
Newfield, Silverdale and one of the special schools will be rebuilt thanks to a partnership with the private sector costing £80 million.
The rest of the work will be paid for by £52 million of conventional borrowing, with nearly £10 million paying for the latest IT facilities.
Sheffield will have to find a small percentage of the cash from its own secondary education budget, around £1.3 million. Hammering out the details of who will pay what has slowed the project down after the broad outlines were first revealed last February.
The project will be completed two years later than first predicted, but Coun Angela Smith, cabinet member for education and training, said it was important to get everything right. "We don't want to make the mistakes of the 1960s, when schools built then are now ready to be pulled down. We want designs of the highest quality," she said. "All our secondary pupils will now be able to look forward to top class facilities coupled with high quality teaching and learning. They deserve the best."
Education chiefs hope first class schools will also produce first class results and higher post-16 staying on rates.
Mark Peat, head of education planning and development, said: "IT facilities will transform the curriculum and the way children learn, and also the way schools are designed."
The council will sign a deal with a consortium of companies who will then undertake all three phases of rebuilding.