£14M SIXTH FORM

The Joseph Wright sixth-form academy is set to be built in Derby to cater for up to 1,200 post-16 students. Derby College has unveiled plans for a fourth site which could be up and running in two years. The four-storey building, which would offer A-levels as well as some vocational courses, would be located at the corner of St Alkmund's Way and Cathedral Road. The site is currently occupied by the Cathedral Road clinic and emergency dental practice, both of which are due to be resited. Key features of the academy would include a 250-seat lecture theatre, information technology suites and science laboratories, plus underground parking. It would mean that the 700 students who take A-levels at Derby College's Prince Charles Avenue campus in Mackworth would be transferred to the new site. The college also anticipates that up to 500 more students from elsewhere would apply to study at the academy.

About 35% of the cost would come from the Derbyshire Learning and Skills Council, which is responsible for funding all post-16 education in the county. The rest would come from Government grants and college money already held for the project. College principal David Croll said, "This is an exciting plan, which will form a major centrepiece for Derby. The academy will provide the very latest technology in a comfortable learning environment which can only enhance the quality of education we offer. Moreover, it's close to all social and cultural areas, including the city's main library, and it's highly accessible - just one bus ride for most people in the county." In the meantime, the Mackworth campus will develop as a centre of excellence for hairdressing, plus art and design. The other two campuses in Broomfield and Wilmorton will continue to develop their specialities.

The college has chosen Cedar House Investments Ltd, from Nottingham, which owns the land and which is chaired by well-known local businessman Peter Gadsby, to develop the site. An application for outline planning permission for the site has already been made to Derby City Council. Mr Gadsby said, "We acquired part of the site in 1990 and it's become a strategic, high-profile location. We hope that, having attracted the academy, it will provide a catalyst for further mixed-use development." Michael Hall, acting chief executive of Derby Cityscape, the £225m "vision for Derby", said, "This project will increase the appeal of the inner city for wider investment."

Several city head teachers have expressed fears that the proposed new centre could threaten the future of existing school sixth forms in Derby. They claim bosses at the college have not done their homework or consulted widely enough on the issue. Ray Ruszczynski is head teacher at Chellaston School, Swarkestone Road, where there are 260 sixth formers. He said strong A-level provision already existed in many of the city's schools and that any available money should be used to improve them.

Mr Ruszczynski added, "The Learning and Skills Council would be better building on existing strengths. There is a general feeling this proposal has been thought up without assessing the full quota of provision available and knowing where additional students are likely to come from." Dr Paul Davies is head teacher of Noel-Baker Community School, Alvaston, which has 150 sixth formers. He said, "If our sixth form was forced to close, it would lose the funding that could pay for the equivalent of 10 teachers, and these would be lost to the school as a whole." David Croll, principal of Derby College, said that he had no choice but to replace the poor accommodation at Mackworth.

He said, "We have held a series of meetings with school representatives and are preparing to give the final documents containing all our research to the Learning and Skills Council at the end of this month." The college estimates that currently 59% of 16 to 18 year olds undertake post-16 learning, but that this should rise to 71% by 2004. The population for this age bracket is also expected to increase by 7.7% next year and 24,000 new homes are scheduled to be built in Derby by 2011. Mr Croll added, "All of this points to a growth in demand for full-time education from today's figure of 3,384 to 4,439 by 2004/2005."

Documents designed to off-set the row were finally published, but they came too late, as the school sixth forms that could be affected by the new centre had finished for the summer holiday, leaving many head teachers unaware of their contents. David Hughes, executive director of the LSC, was anxious to ease the situation and off-set fears over the plans, saying that school sixth forms are an integral part of the long-term future of post-16 education in the city. He said, "School sixth forms alone would not meet the increasing needs for post-16 provision over the next few years and so the centre is important." The latest documents reveal that the planned 1,200-pupil centre would fall in line with the expectation that demand for places at the college will double by 2005/06.