Old Sainsbury's site lined up for new Wolverhampton city centre school
Wolverhampton could be set for a new secondary school under Government plans to boost education standards in the city.
Ministers are exploring the possibility of a new school in the city centre, with four bids believed to be under the microscope, three of which want to build on the old Sainsbury's site at St George’s.
It would cater for between 600 and 1,600 students and would ease pressure on existing schools, which is expected to intensify from 2022 onwards.
Wolverhampton South West MP Stuart Anderson has held talks with Education Secretary Gavin Williamson over the matter.
He said he believes a new secondary school would help cater for growing demand and also serve as a "guiding light" for other schools in the city to drive up standards.
Mr Anderson said: "In Wolverhampton we have some excellent primary schools, but I speak to a lot of parents who are very concerned about the secondary schools in the city.
"The Government is committed to building new schools, and I have made the case that Wolverhampton is a perfect location."
Mr Williamson said: "We've invited people to bid for the opportunity to build new schools across the country and what I have made clear is that every application must have at its heart a determination to drive up standards, with strong behaviour and discipline policies a crucial element.
"They must make sure they are delivering the highest quality and standards in terms of educating children. Stuart has put forward a very strong argument regarding how a new school could help to improve the quality of education on offer in Wolverhampton.
"I will be looking very closely at all of the bids in the coming weeks."
Wolverhampton Council is keen to redevelop St George's, which Sainsbury's left in 2015.
Council bosses recently revealed there were no current plans for the site.
A decision on the school is expected later this year.
Wolverhampton has seen growing demand for school places – particularly to the east of the city centre – due to its growing population.
Two new schools have opened in recent years.
The Khalsa Academy opened in 2015 and was rated 'good' in its latest Ofsted inspection in 2018, when it had around 330 pupils on the roll.
The 'good' rated West Midlands UTC opened in the same year, and had 208 students enrolled in 2018.
In the recently published secondary school league tables, 14 out of 20 schools in Wolverhampton scored average or worse in the key Progress 8 category, which measures the progress pupils make between key stage 2 and key stage 4.
