School Rebuilding Projects Scrapped

At the beginning of the week Education Secretary Michael

Gove announced the scrapping of hundreds of school building projects. 719

school revamps already

signed up to the scheme would not now go ahead' reports the BBC and

a further 123 academy schemes are to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. 

Michael Gove’s department has decreed that ‘all local

authority schemes that have not reached financial close would not go ahead,

saving ‘billions’ of pounds.  This

decision has obviously been met with disappointment across Kent and according

to Paul Carter, Kent County Council leader, the county got nearly 20 projects

‘past the point of no return’ before the school revamps were dramatically

halted.

Paul Carter told the BBC that Kent was the country’s largest

local authority and had the largest school building scheme in the country.

So how does this effect Tunbridge Wells? Well according to a

BBC document listing the schools hit by these cut backs, The Skinners Kent

Academy’s plans are now up for discussion. 

Opened in September 2009 Skinner’s Kent Academy is an independent non

fee-paying school funded by the Department for Education and supported fully by

its lead sponsor The Skinners’ School, a grammar school for boys and the

Skinners’ Company, and its co-sponsors West Kent College and Kent Country

Council.

Currently the new Academy is located in the buildings of the

former Tunbridge Wells High School but according to the school’s website it is

intended that the Academy will move to a state of the art 24 million pound new

building in 2012. This building was due to provide outstanding facilities not

only for the Academy’s students but also for the wider community.

I contacted The Skinners’ Kent  Academy’s principle Sian Carr to find out how

the proposed cuts will affect the school’s building plans.  I received this press release.

"Although we are naturally concerned about what might

happen in the future, and it is true that our plans are currently subject to

review, they have in no way been blocked or cancelled.

Our plans are well advanced compared to most others, we are

confident of the robustness of our financial case, and we are continuing to

work with KCC and the DfE as planned.

Needless to say, we hope for a positive resolution in the

near future, so that our committed timetable for opening the new building in

September 2012 can stay on track."