Newhall: Closed school pupils to be taught in three places

Mercia Academy, formerly William Allitt School, in Derbyshire was closed with immediate effect

More than 500 pupils will be taught at home and in three different non-school buildings for at least eight months after their school was closed.

Mercia Academy, in Sunnyside, Newhall, Derbyshire, was shut over health and safety concerns on 17 November.

Tests for electrical faults, mould, asbestos and on the roof structure were needed.

The Falcon Education Academies Trust said there will be a rota system for the temporary sites.

Students will be taught across Sharpe's Pottery Museum in Swadlincote, the now-derelict former Newhall Day Centre, and the Freemasons' Hall at Ashfield House, in Winshill, Staffordshire.

The temporary locations do not have enough capacity to accommodate all pupils simultaneously, so there will be a rota system on when students attend the Newhall and Swadlincote sites, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

This means year groups will be remote learning for some of each week for eight months.

The trust added in a letter to parents and carers, written by Angela Barry, the trust's chief executive, that a temporary school would be built in vacant space on the current site but that was not expected to be ready this academic year.

Meanwhile, plans for a permanent school building on its current footprint continue to progress but with no timeline available and no work is yet to take place.

'Herculean effort'

For over a decade, the school has been earmarked for demolition, with a new building to be built in its place, but funding issues have delayed the move.

In 2022, Derbyshire County Council included an initial £7m for the new school in its budget with preliminary work taking place in recent months.

The academy trust also revealed that the running of the school would be passing over to a new academy chain.

Falcon, which took over the school last year, says the new academy chain would be the Lionheart Educational Trust, which runs 14 schools in Leicestershire.

Heather Wheeler, South Derbyshire MP, told the LDRS said she met the school's principal, Jackie Cooper, and a the Department of Education representative at the school.

She said: "After a herculean effort very soon all pupils will be able to be taught in face-to-face lessons in local buildings, the farthest a 2.5-mile distance from Sunnyside.

"Those parents particularly concerned with pupils taking their mock GCSEs will also be relieved that matters are in hand to lead up to them, again with face-to-face lessons.

"I appreciate this has been a shock to everyone involved but I have every faith in the school's principal and the senior team, some of whom I also met, and a way forward has been found to make sure the pupils have face-to-face teaching."

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