Brighton and Hove City Council has formally asked the Government for permission to turn Portslade Community College into an academy.
Two weeks after Brighton and Hove News first reported the plans were in the pipeline, the council has announced it has submitted a proposal – a response, it says, to “longstanding underperformance at the school”.
The proposal, if successful, would mean that the academy will be up and running by September 2011.
As we reported, the council’s preferred lead sponsor would be former pupil and multimillionaire Rod Aldridge’s Aldridge Foundation, with Brighton and Hove City Council as the co-sponsor and the University of Sussex as the academy’s education partner.
Leader of the council, Councillor Mary Mears said: “We want to continue to work closely with Portslade Community College to improve their results and standards and I believe that by turning it into an academy school we will achieve this. It will not only enable us to bring in extra funding to improve the school’s buildings and facilities but it will also give the school greater freedom and independence to provide the curriculum that the pupils need and deserve.
“And I am delighted that we have been able to secure the Aldridge Foundation as co-sponsors for the academy with the city council, alongside our other partners in the project, the University of Sussex. They will both bring in valuable extra support and expertise to the project which I’m sure the pupils will benefit from enormously.”
Rod Aldridge from the Aldridge Foundation said, “The foundation welcomes the opportunity to work with the city council and the University of Sussex to provide students at Portslade with new facilities, high standards of teaching and a learning environment that will enable them to achieve their best.
“On a personal basis this is a very emotional moment for me as I was a pupil at the school many years ago. To now be its sponsor is a great privilege, and I give the parents and students my commitment to improving educational standards for all.”
Professor Michael Farthing, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex, said; “As a leading education research institution and an innovative provider of teacher training, the University of Sussex actively works with a range of schools and FE colleges across the region.
“We are pleased to be able to offer our skills and experience as the education partner working with the city council and the Aldridge Foundation to support this new initiative to help improve secondary education in Brighton & Hove.”
The school’s head Stuart McLaughlin has only recently started at the school after leaving Falmer High School as it was turned into another Aldridge academy, due to open in September as the Brighton Aldridge Community Academy.
Last month, the school was ranked 144th in a table of the country’s worst performing schools, and the 14th worst at improving pupils’ performance when the new GCSE and A-level results tables were published.
But governors are unhappy with the move to turn it into an academy, saying Mr McLaughlin has already made a good impression.
Last month, one told Brighton and Hove News: “I’m not happy about this. The head teacher is new and is doing a good job. He should be given time to prove himself.”
