16.02.2006

JCB to fund new school

JCB has announced plans to fund an Academy school in East Staffordshire to help young people pursue a career in engineering and manufacturing.

The company will invest around £1.8 million in the school which will have up to 540 pupils and it is planned to open in September 2009.

The JCB Academy, as it will be called, will specialise in engineering, manufacturing and international business for 14 to 19-year-olds. Academies are independent but publicly funded, no-fees, all-ability schools that the UK Government has been promoting since 2000.
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(L-R)Peter Mitchell, head at Thomas Alleyne's High School, Sir Anthony Bamford and Keith Norris Principal Burton College.

Ruth Kelly, Secretary of state for education, announced the Government’s go-ahead for the formal feasibility stage of the project. If approved, it is envisaged that building work will start in 2008 and the school would open in September 2009.

It is hoped that the school will raise the profile and appeal of manufacturing among young people and is intended to have a positive impact on some of the most deprived areas of Staffordshire and Derbyshire including Stoke-on-Trent and Derby which have suffered from the shrinkage of traditional industries. More than half the intake of pupils will come from these areas and they will be offered free transport to, and from, the school. Scholarships for weekly boarding will also be available.

The Academy will be housed in a brand-new building built alongside the JCB World headquarters at Rocester, Staffordshire, enabling considerable interaction between JCB staff and students.

“I am passionate about the importance of manufacturing to Britain and the JCB Academy shows we are prepared to invest in creating the next generation of young engineers,” said Sir Anthony Bamford, chairman of the JCB group.

JCB has developed this initiative with Burton College and Thomas Alleyne’s High School, Uttoxeter. Burton College has been a strategic partner with JCB for many years training its apprentices and other employees in specialist areas.