New Oldbury secondary school to open due to a baby boom

Sandwell Council ruling cabinet has signed off plans to bring the former Langley High School site, in Moat Road, Oldbury, back into use as the authority neeeds to increase secondary school capacity from 2016.

It has been vacant since it was handed back to the council by Oldbury Academy in February after it moved to a £20 million home in Pound Road. It has the space for 1,200 pupils.

At the end of last year, it had been mooted to relocate Stuart Bathurst Catholic Primary School 10 miles from Wood Green Road, Wednesbury, to use the site in Moat Road, Oldbury but that plan has not gone ahead.

Instead council chiefs want to set up an entirely new school and, in line with latest Government policy, the desired occupiers would be a free school or an academy.

The authority is now looking for partners interested in developing the new school which would cater for pupils aged between 11 and 18.

The borough's children's services chief, Councillor Simon Hackett said: " We expect proposers to be ambitious in their approach and have the vision and skill to grow an excellent school in an area of Sandwell that is expected to see an increasing demand for secondary school places in the next few years.

"It is proposed that the school will open as early as September 2015," added Councillor Hackett.

The birth rate has rocketed by 26 per cent in the past seven years in the borough, meaning the council needs to provide an extra 26 forms of entry in secondary schools in the next decade.

The council has pumped funding into primary schools but now needs to address the knock-on impact on secondary schools from 2016 onwards.

People who wish to set up a new school should ask for a new school prospectus by visiting www.sandwell.gov.uk/newschool or by calling 0121 569 8282.

The council is also intending to hold an information day for anyone interested in working with the authority on the project on Tuesday November 26.