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More classroom places coming to these schools in Wolverhampton

Three secondary schools and a college in Wolverhampton are set to be expanded under a £4.2 million plan to create more places in the city.

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St Edmund's Catholic Academy is one of the schools which is set to expand under the plans

St Edmund's Catholic Academy in Compton, Highfields School in Penn and the Ormiston SWB Academy in Bilston have all been lined up for expansion, along with the West Midlands University Technical College (UTC).

Plans remain in their early stages and still need approval from Wolverhampton Council.

However, the projects have been included in the authority's latest spending programme.

Hundreds more school places are needed across the city over the coming years to keep pace with the rising population and the four sites are the latest to be put forward as part of the expansion programme.

Highfields School

The West Midlands UTC opened in 2015 and offers specialist course in engineering and manufacturing and has proved a success in the city.

The college expansion would cost around £2 million, while nearly £2.2m would be spend on the three schools.

Building projects at other secondary schools in Wolverhampton, Aldersley and Our Lady and St Chad, are expected to be completed later this year, along with builds at Loxdale, Spring Vale, Stowlawn primary schools.

Wolverhampton councillor Phil Bateman said creating more school places was crucial if the city is to prosper in the coming years.

He said: "We need to keep investing in our educational facilities. With an educated population comes an educated workforce.

"The city can't stand still, we need to look to the future and the opportunities the modern world brings. There are just shy of 260,000 people living in Wolverhampton and we have to keep reinvesting all the time.

"New school infrastructure is absolutely vital for the city."

The news that the UTC is set to be extended is a major boost for the site, which aims to train young people for a career in the engineering and manufacturing sector.

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