Put our schools first

OLDHAM Council’s Labour group is calling for greater Government support for the borough’s schools.

Labour councillors are seeking cross-party agreement at Wednesday’s full council meeting for a motion blasting the current Government for curtailing the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme, set up by previous Labour governments.

The motion laments the “severe curtailment” of the BSF programme and proposes resolutions to provide the best facilities for Oldham’s secondary schools, many of which had to scrap modernisation plans after Education Minister Michael Gove axed BSF in 2010.

Oldham’s Labour administration is particularly concerned about Saddleworth and Royton & Crompton schools, which would have been replaced under BSF; and Hathershaw, Blue Coat and Crompton House, which would have undergone extensive upgrading.

Council leader Jim McMahon said: “With our best ever GCSE results this year and an A-level pass rate of over 98 per cent, Oldham’s young people are achieving great things academically. As a local authority, we want to make sure that we do everything we can to support that.”