Ada Burns, Chief Executive of Darlington Council
"Darlington Borough Council is committed to providing high quality education to every child in the Borough. The Council is facing a number of challenges in education. We want to raise the achievements of all our pupils so every child can reach their full potential.
Despite on-going investment not all of our school buildings are fit to provide education in the 21st century; many do not have modern, specialist accommodation for science, technology and sports and the classrooms and corridors are often small and cramped.
Finally, we need to tackle surplus places. A falling birth rate means schools do not have enough pupils for their size. Budgets for schools are based on the number of pupils so if this falls, schools start to have real difficulty paying for teachers, equipment and the upkeep of buildings.
We are planning to meet these challenges in a number of ways:
- Developing a partnership with schools to raise achievement
- Exploring opportunities to bring in funding to the Borough and using Council funding to improve our schools. We aim to have an investment plan for every one of our schools
- Exploring opportunities to reorganise schools so that we have got the right number of pupil places in each part of the Borough.
The Academy is part of these plans to transform secondary school education (pdf document) across the Borough.
The Academy would secure high quality learning facilities serving the eastern side of town and would provide the best possible education in state-of-the-art facilities.
The Council is excited at the prospect of working with the Church of England to create an academy in Darlington and we want to make sure the whole community understands the proposal.”
A strategy for transforming Secondary Education for all our children (pdf document)
The Rt Revd John Pritchard, Bishop of Jarrow
"We are delighted to be involved in this exciting development which will play an important role in the social and economic regeneration of the East of Darlington and the surrounding villages.
Excellent teaching and learning in a new environment will transform secondary education across the whole town.
We will bring with us experience and the opportunity for innovation, which will benefit the wider family of local schools through the new school-based 'school effectiveness service' which the new academy will be part of."