Protests against Sneyd College plan
A stricken Black Country school must close to be replaced by a specialist engineering academy for 14 to 19-year-olds.
A consultation period on three options for struggling Sneyd Community College in Bloxwich was agreed by members of Walsall Council's cabinet.
All of the options will see the school axed within three years, despite a rigorous campaign by pupils, staff and parents.
But council bosses insisted the creation of a specialist engineering academy for 14 to 19-year–olds is the best - and most viable - alternative.
Councillor Zahid Ali, cabinet member for children's services, said most choices put forward for the Vernon Way school had been rejected by the Office of the Schools Commissioner.
He hailed the plans for a new engineering college, the first of its kind in the country, as an "exciting prospect."
He said: "I can tell you quite categorically this option was the only viable option. This new engineering academy would ensure that the normal curriculum continues as well as the specialist expertise in engineering that this option brings."
Councillor Ali added Walsall College, Wolverhampton University and Aston University had already expressed an interest in setting up links with a proposed engineering academy.
Parents, staff and governors had wanted the school to reopen as an academy for 11 to 19-year-olds.
Youngsters from the school, which has been dogged by falling pupil numbers and poor results, descended on the Council House to make their feelings clear, as cries of "Save our School" could be heard throughout the meeting from the street below.
But council leader John O'Hare said the closure of Sneyd and creation of an engineering college was also essential in safeguarding the future of the multi-million pound Building Schools for the Future programme (BSF).
He said: "The alternative is quite simply we do nothing and maintain the current facility, we jeopardise the provision of BSF, which is £200 million, and we jeopardise the future of the site for community use.
"At the end of the day, with falling numbers in a failing school, we would not be allowed to continue. The government would send in Ofsted inspectors who would take over and close it."
