A new era dawns for schools

The district will have 158 primary and 28 secondary schools instead of a middle school system which started in the 1960s.

From this week there will be thousands of pupils in 210 temporary classrooms, surrounded by building work. But the term begins with only three of the 75 schools needing temporary classrooms experiencing slight delays.

And Bradford Council says all youngsters will be back at school within the next two weeks - unlike chaotic scenes last year where hundreds of middle school children missed classes because large numbers of units were not ready.

Belle Vue Girls in Bradford, Shirley Manor Primary in Wyke and the Challenge College, temporarily based at the site of the former Woodend Middle School in Shipley, have slight building delays.

Belle Vue has been hit by site problems because of a tip beneath the ground. Asbestos removal has added to the Woodend time scale and Shirley Manor is waiting for a larger temporary classroom.

But the council's managing partner Bovis Lend Lease says the pupils will still go back on the dates arranged by the schools at the end of last term.

During the summer holiday Bovis has carried out a massive schedule of transition work at 104 sites. The 237 projects involved have ranged from minor toilet alterations to major refurbishments and the provision of temporary units at 75 schools.

Project Director Phil Wakefield said all building work was on schedule, following timetables put out before the end of the summer term. He said: "We are pleased. The switch has been set up and achieved."

But some youngsters face long periods in temporary units as major building work continues over the next two years.

Director of Education Diana Cavanagh stressed that today was only the first phase of the huge task of taking the district's education service into the 21st century with rising standards. She added: "Today is lift off."

Mrs Cavanagh said three schools - Greenhead Grammar, in Keighley, Beckfoot Grammar, in Bingley, and High Crags Primary, in Shipley- had asked for a further 48 hours on top of the lee-way offered by the authority because they wanted to carry out finishing touches.

She said because of the transition starting dates had been left to the district's schools, which had informed parents of arrangements before the holidays.

The £171 million shake up has been fraught with storms and crises. Bitter campaigns were fought over school closures, and the Government stepped in to help after the council discovered it had a £47 million funding shortfall last year.

And the first day of the new system sees 160 teachers without full time jobs but all in temporary posts. Unless permanent jobs are found for the surplus teachers it will cost the council an estimated £3 million by next March.

Liberal Democrat councillor David Ward, the council's executive member for education, said: "The key thing is that the new two tier system is in place and will play a major part in raising educational standards in the district. That is a goal we must all focus on now.

"Bovis pulled out all stops over the summer to make sure that the district's schools got the extra units they needed while waiting for their permanent building work.

"Installing 210 units at 75 schools in such a short time is a major undertaking and Bovis has done very well, in stark contrast to the chaos last year."

Council leader Councillor Margaret Eaton said: "It has taken blood, sweat and tears by politicians and contractors and schools to make it all come together today in such a positive way when all but three are on track."

Labour spokesman for education Councillor Ralph Berry said: "It is gratifying that the arrangement we made to bring in Bovis has accelerated the reorganisation."

Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe, chairman of Tong Upper School governors, said it was the biggest individual investment by the Government in the country for schools.

"I am glad at one level to see that building work has taken place. But I am sad about the disruption. It could have been better handled and problems must be ironed out."

He called for urgent action on the problem of surplus teacher.

Mr Sutcliffe said the reorganisation had not been thought out and discussed properly at the outset. "MPs were given wrong information about costs by the local education authority. It is very important for everyone to now pull together to make it happen."

Susanne Rooney, former education committee chairman and a transitional governor at the £9 million Immanuel C of E Community College, due to open part of its buildings in Thackley on Monday, September 11, said she was pleased the system was in place but warned there were two tough years ahead.

But Norman Free, a Low Ash governor and former vice-chairman of the West Riding Schools sub-committee, said he believed the reorganisation was a disaster. He said: "You see empty schools on one side of the road and schools surrounded by wooden huts on the other."

Mick Brannan, chairman of Low Ash Primary School governors, has a split site school with seven temporary classrooms. An extension has been designed to accommodate an estimated 420 pupils expected to be at the school in two years time. But work is not likely to start before March next year, and the governors are pressing for it to be completed in a year.

Mr Brannan said staff and governors had worked hard to produce staggered finishing times for parents with children at the sites at Wrose Road and Oakdale Road.

His own children Rebecca, eight, and Laura, nine, are attending his school. Mr Brannan, 37, a production manager of Baildon, said: "It will all be worth it to the schools and children in the long term, but the messing about and uncertainty has delayed when the pay back arrives. I believe it could be as much as ten years."

He added that the initial consultation had been a "farce" and the "flawed" reorganisation should have been done by an independent body.

David Horn, head of Beckfoot Grammar School in Bingley, is pictured with some of the temporary classrooms which will greet pupils this term.