Schools shake-up details revealed

Blueprints that reveal the fate of middle schools in Bedford Borough were published last week.

The plans appeared on the Bedford Borough Council website and explain details of changes that will be made at schools across the borough.

While all 15 middle schools will close some will become sites for expanded lower and upper schools.

One middle school headteacher was magnanimous about the changes, claiming that if they are handled in the right way there was no need to worry.

Plans to abolish middle schools and create a two-tier education system were approved by the council in November after a lengthy public debate.

Building works for the scheme are reliant on cash from the Government's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) fund and council chiefs have allocated £300,000 in the annual budget to pay for the management of the changes.

Borough Hall bosses have promised that no work will begin until the BSF funding is secured.

The plan to change schools to a two-tier system proved controversial, and parents' group Save Middle Schools lobbied councillors claiming that the change would disrupt their children's education.