Pupils from secondary schools in the center of Carlisle could benefit from a major building programme as a result of long-term plans to recover from the devastation caused by the January flood. Early discussions have taken place between Cumbria County Council, as the local education authority, and the Church of England and Roman Catholic dioceses about the rebuilding of Newman and Trinity schools on nearby land with a new sixth form to be shared by those two schools and St Aidans.
On the 17th March a meeting involving the county council, the dioceses education directors, the Learning and Skills Council, Government Office North West and the DfES will discuss how to achieve the best possible outcome for the pupils and students of Carlisle.
County Councillor Joan Stocker, spokesperson for education explains:
"The future of how secondary education is organised in the center of Carlisle has been the subject of much thought in recent months. The long-term recovery needed after the recent flood is an opportunity to also resolve the issues of surplus places and post 16 education.
Ideas are at a very early stage and next week's meeting will give those schools directly involved and support agencies an opportunity to talk about a range of options and how they could be progressed."
Amongst the initial ideas are:
Rebuild Newman School, at the same size as at present, (4 forms of entry), on a new site nearby.
Rebuild Trinity School on its own spare land so that the school can continue to function during the rebuilding. The school and diocese are in agreement that the school should become smaller - say 7 or 8 forms of entry.
Those two schools would share a range of specialist facilities, including a Library / Resources Centre, Sports and "extended school" provision.
With the support of the Learning and Skills Council create a shared Sixth Form "Centre" where students can study and benefit from greater economies of scale.
This centre would be shared by sixth pupils from Trinity, Newman and St Aidan schools. Pupils would all remain on the role of each school, in line with the clear parental preference expressed last year.
The benefits of such a move would be to take surplus places out of the system as school rolls fall and provide closer liaison for sixth form teaching for all three schools.