Significant progress is being made on the £45 million revamp of education in Melton Mowbray and the Vale of Belvoir.

Over the next four years this exciting and challenging transformation will see:

Work is now well under way to enable these changes. Progress has been made over the summer on devising curriculum choices and specialisms for each school, in addition to discussions with architects on a vision for the new schools and consulting on the Belvoir High School Trust. But there is so much more to do.

 

There will never have been a better time to be 16 in Melton than in 2010. The Melton community has always enjoyed excellent Post-16 provision – King Edward VII sixth form has enjoyed a tradition of academic success and earned plaudits from Ofsted, whilst Brooksby Melton College has been expanding at a rapid rate by providing high quality vocational provision. The future looks even brighter.

Leicestershire County Council has given the green light for a state of the art £11 million academic Post-16 Centre on the Burton Road campus of the King Edward VII school. This will open in 2010 as a jointly managed, area wide facility for local secondary schools.

The centre has the potential to harness the best of the current A-level provision at King Edward, together with the emerging Post-14 expertise at John Ferneley High, Belvoir High and Long Field High School.

From 2011 teachers will increasingly be drawn from all the schools, ensuring not only high quality learning, but also a sense of continuity and belonging for the new sixth formers. In addition, the centre will have a core team of dedicated, high quality staff.

Headteachers from each school, including Birch Wood Area Special School together with the County Council, have been looking at some of the most exciting post-16 buildings in the area. The best elements of each design are being carefully assimilated in order to give Melton a building it can be proud of. A breathtaking exterior facade will match the exciting opportunities and learning that the centre will provide.

For more information, contact Fraser Mitchell,
Post-16 Director at King Edward VII Technology
College and Training School, on 01664 851010.

A communication group has been set up to help ensure you are kept informed of the latest developments in the local school reorganisation.

The new group will be helping to keep parents, students, local residents, school staff and governors up-to-date with what is happening.

Secondary, primary and special headteachers, teaching and support staff, school governors and pupils/students will be represented on the group.

The representatives will be drawn from the range of schools in Melton Mowbray and the Vale of Belvoir involved in the programme of change and seeking to develop a spirit of partnership working.

For more information call David Atterbury on 0116 305 7729, or email: datterbury@leics.gov.uk.

The government is providing £5.9 million to extend the curriculum and expand the age range at Belvoir High School from 10-14 to 11-19. A condition of the funding was that the school should change status by becoming either a faith school or a trust school. After much deliberation and consultation, the governing body decided to take the trust option.

The trust will work in an advisory and supportive capacity at the school, drawing upon the expertise and knowledge of trust partners to enhance the provision for our pupils. In every other way, it will operate as a foundation school.

Our trust partners will include the Brooksby Melton FE College, the Vale Churches, PC World, Richard Tollemache, the National Farmers’ Union, British Geological Survey, and, of course, the Children and Young People’s Service of the County Council.

Once it has changed status, the school will continue to operate within Leicestershire County Council’s local agreements in respect of pay and conditions of service. This means that there will be no change for staff except that they will now be employed by the school and not the Council.

The trust will bring a distinctive vision enabling the school to work closely with the local community to benefit everyone. Belvoir High School will maintain and build on its position as a key provider in the area for the whole community. The school will work in partnership to support aspirations and development across the Vale.

Consultation has now concluded and having responded to the views arising from that process, the governing body will issue the necessary statutory proposals soon after half term. The school is expected to become a foundation and trust school at the beginning of February next year.

For more information contact the school on 01949 844920 or visit:
www.belvoirhigh.leics.sch.uk