Norfolk academies given £50m for revamp

Academy schools in Norfolk are to share £50m for new or improved buildings.

Thetford Academy, King's Lynn Academy, Ormiston Venture Academy in Gorleston and Ormiston Victory Academy in Costessey, near Norwich, will benefit.

Each could have lost out on funding after the government scrapped the Building Schools for the Future scheme in July, the county council said.

Each were surveyed on merit before a final decision was recently made by Education Secretary Michael Gove.

Additional funding

The recipient of the largest amount of money is the Thetford Academy, the former Charles Burrell and Rosemary Musker High Schools, which will receive £18m.

Ormiston Venture Academy, on the site of the old Costessey High School, is due to get £14m and the former Oriel High School, now Ormiston Venture Academy, is to receive £8m.

The College of West Anglia, which sponsors King's Lynn Academy, said the £10.5m it will receive is less than half the amount it was originally expecting.

College principal David Pomfret said it would be looking at additional funding options to enable it to move from the old Park High School site to a regeneration area of South Lynn.