Saga of a Academy for Blyth

The latest in the saga of an Academy for Blyth comes from the local Council in Blyth Valley.

The Journal reports that the full Council rejects the plan for a reorganisation based on an Academy.
There in lies the problem for the small pro-Academy group led by Cllr. Brooks.

His officers have now let the cat out of the bag. The original figures for PLF (son of BSF) did not stack up. It was always intended that the Blyth College would take in 2,200 pupils with the historic drift of pupils from South Beach going to Astley.

Unfortunately they found they needed extra room for the sixth form to go alongside the BCC or better still to go to Tynedale. A neat solution – everyone thought so, until they found themselves short of £4.5 million or thereabouts, suddenly they need an Academy.
An Academy will cost them nothing but you and I and the taxpayer will fund their machinations to the tune of £23million instead of £4million, hardly best value!

Now an Academy would normally be a replacement for a failing school, which BCC is not. The next port of convenience is to be able to put a school in an area of deprivation.

There are such wards in Blyth but we now find that the NCC have drawn the boundary of the catchment area for the Academy so as to completely avoid that area. South Beach is not an area known for its deprivation is it?.
Social engineering on this scale must surely run roughshod over the Dfes guidelines.

Now we find the public against the plans, the MP raising it in Parliament, the unions and the local Blyth Valley Council – all opposing it, but what do we hear oh! The parents of Blyth are fully behind it – I have not spoken to one parent who is behind it.

Of course there must be some, somewhere, but do not expect the NCC to disclose these figures.
Knowing that Ronnie Campbell was to bring the subject up Jim Knights office must have contacted NCC to be assured that there was support for the project – the rest is Hansards History so to speak. One further thing of note - Jim Knight did recognise that 30% 0f the pupils for the new Academy will come from Astley High School - what price now the protestations of the Executive at County Hall.

Bill Brooks specialist subject is avoiding difficult questions, although now he just ignores them, even in his own Group we have witnessed his continual whining on about everyone who criticises him. Perhaps he needs a mirror in his office to find out who’s responsible for that.

How have we got to this stage.
It is the arrogance of the leadership at County Hall, who, finding themselves closing every service known to ‘man’ in Northumberland, they find themselves needing a pile of bricks to stick their flag on for the public votes. It won’t wash with people who are fed up with them.
Lord knows what they will think of their plans to outsource everything with a core staff of 160 being left at County Hall. Just to stay in power they are prepared to sell their collective souls.