Kirklees Council agrees £24m plan for new Fartown High School to move to All Saints

Mar 26 2010 by Barry Gibson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A NEW school will be built in Huddersfield.

Councillors last night voted to set up the school in the north of the town.

But trades unionists spoke out against the plan at a meeting of Kirklees Council’s Cabinet in Huddersfield Town Hall.

The plan means Fartown High School will close in August, 2011, with the new school running at the site on Woodhouse Hall Road until 2013.

The new school will then move to a new site next to All Saints Catholic College in Bradley.

Kirklees Council’s Cabinet agreed last night to begin consultation on the plan.

Parents can have their say during April and May. In June the council will invite bids from private companies to run the new school.

But Mike Foster, of trade union Unison, told last night’s meeting that setting up an academy school would be a mistake.

He said: “I would like to see local schools in every area but I’m concerned that you’re holding a competition to run the school. A private provider will not be able to meet the aspirations of the community.

“The track record of academies is poor. We feel this is a dangerous path.”

Hazel Danson, a Kirklees officer for the National Union of Teachers, criticised the proposed size of the new school. It is planned to serve 1,200 children aged 11 to 16 from Birkby, Bradley, Deighton, Fartown, Fixby, Hillhouse and Sheepridge.

Ms Danson said: “There seems to be an unmovable belief that a school shouldn’t be smaller than 1,200. Where’s the evidence for this?

“A school of 1,200 may not be achievable, perhaps something around 900 would be more suitable.”