Another positive result for good sense and reason!
EDUCATION bosses yesterday gave an emphatic snub to ex-motor magnate Sir Peter Vardy’s offer to set up a faith academy in a former steel town.
In doing so Durham County Council rejected the advice of a former chief inspector of schools and of an ex-Government chief whip.
The issue is politically contentious, with former chief whip and North West Durham MP Hilary Armstrong coming under fire from Labour councillors for supporting the proposal from Sir Peter Vardy’s Emmanuel Schools Foundation in partnership with former Sunderland AFC chairman Bob Murray.
Ms Armstrong, whose constituency includes Consett, said the town’s children could miss out on a “marvellous opportunity”.
The council instead favours as potential sponsor a consortium called Durham Excellence in Education Partnership (Deep) involving Durham University, local secondary schools, North East Chamber of Commerce and the county council itself.
Two other MPs, Kevan Jones, of Durham North, and Roberta Blackman-Woods, Durham City, support the council’s preferred option.
After the council cabinet voted on its preferred sponsor, Ms Blackman-Woods said: “In the House of Commons today I congratulated Durham University and its partners for putting forward their bid.
“If it was ultimately successful, it would help to raise aspirations in the county and provide more opportunities for young people.” Mr Jones said: “Durham County Council’s decision is fantastic news for education in Durham. The involvement of Durham University and the other members of the Deep group will bring a great deal of expertise to the academies programme and will certainly help to continue to drive up educational standards in Durham.”
[Read The Rest of The Article Here]
Anything that stops people like Reg Vardy advancing his creationism into our schools is a good thing! Now if we can only get someone with some real balls to push these people out of what they already have we’ll be truly on the winning path.
James “Kyuuketsuki” Rocks (UK Tech Portal)
I don’t think this made the national news, but is good news! I think the whole Blair/faith schools thing is a real blind alley for the Labour Party and the more we can persuade GB to ditch it, the better it will be for this governement.
Comment by largslab — 20 March 2008 @ 11:03 am