'Failed experiment' with kids' futures

Jim McMahon MP

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OLDHAM West and Royton MP Jim McMahon said the UTC had represented a "failed experiment" with pupils' futures ­- and welcomed news of its closure.

"Children and parents in Oldham have been let down by poor standards of education and there's a desire now to put that right by tackling head-on schools that aren't performing well," he said.

"Although it has been a difficult process, I'm pleased action has been taken."

He said the building should be handed over to Oldham College, on whose land it sits and which has struggled to get the cash to renew its own estate over recent years.

Failing

"Let their students benefit from that £9m building," he added.

Howard Sykes, the leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group on Oldham Council, had already criticised the GM's results.

He said: "It's a failing institution and it deserves to be closed. It's letting our kids down. You do wonder if that funding had gone into the more traditional routes of education, would our young people have been better served?

He said that he was not opposed to the idea of technical schools for pupils at the age of 14, but added: "The governance and how things are run makes a big difference. When you can't get a single kid to pass their GCSE maths and English, that's an abject failure.

"If The GM was council-controlled people would be after my head on a block and rightly so.

"The fragmentation of education is not a model that works particularly well and it's not doing much to improve Oldham's educational achievement. We have had issues with academies and free schools and we have got an issue with the GM.

"The most imporant thing now is to look after the kids who are at the GM.

Parent Allan Green said that his son Daniel (16), who is in Year 11, had enjoyed studying at The GM. Mr Green praised the staff but said that poor behaviour was a problem, and feared that it had become a place for other schools to "dump" pupils.

He is concerned that staff will leave before Daniel ­- who hopes to move to sixth-form college in September ­- finishes his final year.

"I think it is a case of if there is another job, they will take it," he added. Tony Harrison, joint branch secretary of Oldham National Union of Teachers, described the low number of pupils at the GM as disgraceful.

He said: "It is regrettable that the UTC is closing and we feel deeply for the staff and pupils who tried to make it work.

"However, it's the folly of taking schools out of local democratic control.

"When there is no local authority control, schools are opening in the wrong places and this is leading to empty school places. Lessons need to be learned form this."

Councillor Amanda Chadderton, Oldham Council's Cabinet member for education and early years, said the closure was the right decision.

"Oldham Council is working hard to support all students and staff affected by this to make sure that it does not impact negatively on their learning and futures. We will support the new UTC board in whatever way we can," she added.