TWO Calder Valley schools have had their hopes of a new building dashed after the Education Secretary scrapped a replacement scheme.
Calder High School, Mytholmroyd, and Todmorden High School had hoped to secure funding for new premises but were dealt a blow last week when Michael Gove decided to cancel the Building Schools for the Future programme as part of the coalition governm
ent's spending review.
The programme was introduced by the Labour government in 2004 with the aim of revamping all of England's 3,500 schools, providing facilities that suit modern education.
Mr Gove said the programme was dysfunctional and had failed to meet any of its targets.
Patrick Ottley-O'Connor, headteacher at Todmorden High School, said the school has made a lot of progress over the last few years and would not let Mr Gove's announcement be a setback.
"It's bitterly disappointing that there's not going to be a new build but we will work with the building we have and not let that be an excuse," he said.
"We will continue fighting but we will not compromise what we are doing with the children."
Helen Plaice, who will become the school's new headteacher in September, said: "It's about the people in the building, not the building itself.
"We have had a change in how we approach things, especially in the quality of the teaching that goes on in the building. That's where the focus will be."
The news is especially disappointing for Calder High School as Mr Gove visited the school in November and said it deserved extra funding.
Mr Gove, who was Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families at the time, said: "This is one of the worst schools I have seen in terms of fabric.
"It's precisely schools like this, where buildings are holding back progress, which deserve extra cash."
Last year, Calderdale Council said that Calder High and Todmorden High were top of its list of priorities for a new building.
Coun Megan Swift (Labour, Town) said for more than a decade local councillors have been determined to secure funds to rebuild the two schools.
She said: "The new coalition government has dealt huge blows to any hopes of securing funds for either of these schools for the foreseeable future.
"And because the former Conservative administration in Calderdale did nothing to plan for any alternatives, the chances of significant investment in new secondary schools are bleak.
"It is unacceptable that the new government is going to find money to help a minority of parents set up new schools for ideological reasons, whilst starving funds to invest in the schools that thousands of our young people depend on."
Calder Valley MP Craig Whittaker has insisted that Calder High and Todmorden High could still benefit.
He said: "Schools that were suffering from poor quality buildings and didn't fit within the previous government's criteria of deprivation and attainment will be considered as part of our review."
