School dreams die as vision is axed

Oldham’s “big-bang” dream to provide a new or refurbished school for every secondary pupil is in tatters.

Karen Doherty looks at the history of the Government’s schools building programme which was axed last week.

“By 2014 every secondary school pupil in Oldham will be attending a new or nearly new school.


“That is an incredible aspiration for us to have and when we achieve it, we will truly be able to say that we gave our secondary school pupils the very, very best that we could afford.”

The words of Councillor Kay Knox when she spoke about the borough’s £266 million secondary school building programme last September.

For once the phrase “once-in-a-lifetime” could truly be used to describe the plans: Saddleworth High School would be replaced, a new Catholic secondary built and a new school for pupils with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD).

Others would be substantially refurbished so that every pupil would benefit from the type of facilities at the new Radclyffe and Failsworth Schools which opened in 2008.

In one fell swoop crumbling classrooms would be swept away, and segregation tackled, thanks to the £55 billion Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme which aimed to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school in England by 2023.

Introduced by the Labour Government in 2004, the then Prime Minister Tony Blair said: “We will see the entire secondary school building stock upgraded and refurbished in the greatest school renewal programme in British history.”

It was never going to be easy as Councillor Knox, Oldham Council’s then cabinet member for children, young people and families continued: “BSF is one of the most difficult and challenging programmes that any local authority, anywhere in the country, will ever have to deliver.”

Nationally, the scheme was dogged by criticism. “Massive overspends, tragic delays, botched construction projects and needless bureaucracy,” according to the new Schools Secretary Michael Gove.

Locally, any large scheme can expect opposition and Oldham was no different. There were hard-fought campaigns against plans to replace five Oldham schools — Grange, Breeze Hill, Counthill, Kaskenmoor and South Chadderton — with academies run by sponsors.

Unions opposed handing over control of schools to sponsors and argued that academies fail to raise standards, damage other schools and are unaccountable to local taxpayers. The chosen locations were also opposed to varying degrees.

The town centre Meridian Centre site originally chosen for the merger of Our Lady’s and St Augustine also split Catholics and prompted protests.

When the Liberal Democrats gained power in 2008 they opted for a Chadderton site for the Catholic high school instead and also changed the location of one of the three academies.

Despite all this, almost seven years after Oldham’s plans were first announced, its schools stood on the brink of change.

The contractors had been chosen — although crucially the BSF and academies packages had not been signed off — and the first of the new schools was due to be completed in 2012.

Then the Lib-Con coalition Government dropped the bombshell on July 5 that it was scrapping BSF.

“In the light of the public finances, it would have been irresponsible to carry on regardless with an inflexible, and needlessly complex programme,” said Mr Gove.

Oldham schools were among 715 already signed up to the scheme that were cancelled.

Plans for the new Saddleworth and BESD schools were axed along with work at Blue Coat, Crompton House, Hathershaw and Royton and Crompton.

Oldham’s Pupil Referral Unit for excluded pupils school will also miss out on refurbishment, along with New Bridge Special School’s learning centre for over 16s. A unit for children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) at Failsworth School was cut.

There is still hope for the new Catholic high school and substantial rebuilding at North Chadderton, which includes a second ASD unit. These schemes, the first due to be completed, were further advanced and are being reviewed.

Nationally, 123 new academy buildings will also be reviewed, including the three in Oldham.

The news was a bitter — and costly — pill for councillors, officers, teachers and pupils who have been working on the programme.

It is not known yet how much Oldham has spent on BSF, but Bolton has forked out £2 million planning the overhaul of seven schools.

Some schools already missed out when Failsworth and Radclyffe were built, finding themselves dropped from the original plans. They include Hathershaw which, in the words of devastated head teacher Carol Cawkwell, could find itself just 0.7 of a mile away from an “all-singing, all-dancing new academy”.

She told the Chronicle: “I can sort of buy into the fact that there’s been problems caused by the amount of bureaucracy and paperwork (with BSF). But, for us at Hathershaw, we are in a very elderly building that has all kinds of problems and is not fit for purpose.”

Time will tell if Oldham’s vow to fight to save at least some of its proposals is successful. Either way the result will have a massive impact.

Phil Woolas, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth said: “Unless this is changed, we will have to wait another generation to bring our schools up to modern standards.”