News: Maltby Academy waits on funding decision

Maltby Academy in Rotherham will have to wait until the government's Comprehensive Spending Review in October to find out if any capital funding is secure.

Education Secretary, Michael Gove, has announced the go-ahead for 33 "sample" school projects and that 44 academies at the most advanced stage in their capital planning will receive capital now.

Capital allocations for the remaining 75, including Maltby, will be decided in the Spending Review. Sponsors of these academies will be working with the Department for Education to reduce costs over the next few months.

In July, the government announced that £100m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects at Abbey SEN, Aston, Hilltop SEN, Milton, Oakwood, St Pius and Swinton have been stopped and that the proposals for Maltby Academy were for discussion.

In February 2009, Rotherham-based education technology specialists, u-explore outlined their proposals to become the lead sponsor of Maltby Academy.

The Academy became operational in September 2009, and new facilities to create an iconic 0-19 campus were hoped to be completed by September 2013. Hilltop Special School and Maltby Lilly Hall Primary School are set to be co-located on the proposed Maltby Campus.

Michael Gove, Education Secretary, said: "I'm determined that we press ahead with the Academies programme and want all those schools identified as future academies to enjoy the freedoms and benefits academy status brings.

"We will also work with councils, sponsors and the construction industry to ensure we bear down on costs and bureaucracy so every new school is built in as cost-effective and efficient a way as possible, and I am delighted that they have already responded so positively to this challenge."

Maltby Academy website

Images: maltbyacademy.com