The DfES are expected to release a bold new plan to extend state boarding schools by having them fall within the remit of the Academy Schools, Building Schools for the Future, and Gifted and Talented programmes. £10m is to be provided between 2006-2020 as seed funding for new schools, the actual cost of which will be delivered either by PPP/PFI and BSF/LEP type deals or by sponsorship from the private sector.
35 state boarding schools already exist and are represented by two bodies, the State Boarding Schools Association (SBSA) and the Boarding Schools Association. Two of the three key education figures involved in the programme also attended private schools at some stage of their schooling and all three subsequently studied at either Cambridge or Oxford universities:
-
Secretary of State for Education, Ruth Kelly who attended Edgarley Hall the prep school of Millfield School (Oxford)
-
Schools Minister, Lord Adonis who attended Kingham Hill school (Oxford)
-
Sir Cyril Taylor, the No.10 Special Advisor and chair of the Specialist Schools and Academy Trust went to state schools - St Marylebone Grammar and Roundhay School (Cambridge and Harvard).
An announcement of the first Academy boarding school is expected shortly and the school will be built on the Uxbridge campus of Brunel University and will specialise in Mathematics, Science, Engineering and Chinese. In variation to the existing Academy sponsorship structure, this school will be a joint venture between the HSBC Education Trust, who will provide £1.2m, and the West London Learning and Skills Council who will fund the remaining 35% of capital costs and all the school’s running costs. Work on the feasibility study started in January this year after the sponsors obtained DfES funding. Some of those already involved in the project are:
-
Mouchel Parkman - Project Management
-
Fairhursts - Planning
-
Aedas Studio - Architects
-
Buro Happold - Structural Engineering
-
Turner and Townsend - Quantity Surveying
