School may rise again

Plans to bulldoze a Shropshire school and replace it with a £20 million learning community have been revealed. They will see Phoenix School, Dawley, Telford, rise again.

Work is expected to begin in 2011, although it has not yet been decided whether the new secondary will be on the same spot.

Telford & Wrekin Council has yet to decide whether or not the complete rebuild, scheduled for completion in 2013, should take place in another part of Dawley.

News of the massive investment in Phoenix was broken to members of the council's cabinet yesterday by Councillor Stephen Burrell, member for children and young people.

The announcement means Telford & Wrekin is to get a total of five new secondary and three new primary schools in a £200 million shake-up of education in the borough, as part of the Government's Building Schools for the Future programme,

Abraham Darby Academy in Madeley, The Sutherland School in Trench, Wrockwardine Wood Arts College and The Lord Silkin School in Stirchley are already set to be knocked down and rebuilt while the three primaries to be replaced are Stirchley, Three Oaks, Stirchley, and Woodlands, Woodside.

A further nine schools are in line for multi-million pound refurbishments.

Councillor Burrell told cabinet members yesterday the extra cash needed for a new Phoenix School had now been found.

He said: "This is fantastic news for both the school and the community of Dawley and forms a major addition to our programme to transform the borough's secondary schools."