As a result of funding cuts, Knowsley in Merseyside is likely to become the first borough without any schools that offer A-level courses, a situation which is deeply concerning to the Sutton Trust’s chairman Sir Peter Lampl.
Access
The Sutton Trust campaigns to improve social mobility through education. Sir Peter told the BBC that: “It is important that young people have the opportunity to access a good choice of A-levels wherever they live.”
Halewood Academy in Knowsley is the only remaining school which offers students in the area access to A-level studies. However, its governors will meet soon to reach a final decision on closing the sixth form which they believe is no longer financially viable.
Parents at the school who are protesting say: “This is letting down the children of this community.”
Sir Peter Lampl echoes those thoughts saying that despite the obvious funding challenges that schools face up and down the country, it was “crucial” that “such choices aren’t curtailed” as a result.
Who is responsible?
The local authority is unable to intervene in the decision making process. School principal Gary Evans has reassured worried parents and students that every effort is being made to cater for students ahead of the next school year.
He said Halewood has been “working hard with Knowsley Council to ensure that individual pupils are catered for as a result of the decision to close the sixth form in August 2017”.
Knowsley is already struggling to provide opportunities for its young people and has among the lowest university entry rates in England. The move to close the academy will only widen the gap and make it harder for ambitious children to achieve their goals.
The Department for Education’s schools minister Nick Gibb is set to meet local MPs in the near future and education officials have promised to investigate the matter if the school is closed.
However, is it already too late?
What is social mobility?
Social Mobility is the relation between a person’s adult life and their circumstances and background as a child.
To learn more, watch Sir Peter discuss the topic on the BBC’s Daily Politics Show.
The Sutton Trust
Sir Peter Lampl founded the Sutton Trust in 1997 to help improve social mobility through education. The charity’s latest research piece ‘Caught Out’ looks into why primary school intakes differ substantially in their social composition from the local neighbourhoods from which they recruit.
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