Bids are in to run super school

FOUR bids have been received to run the new �32 million high school to be built in Felixstowe.

Both Deben High and Orwell High schools will close in summer 2013 and the new school for 1,850 students aged 11 to 19 will be built on the Orwell campus ready to open in autumn that year.

The high schools under the banner of the Felixstowe Learning Trust, supported by businesses and higher education providers such as University Campus Suffolk, have bid to run the new school.

However, they face competition with the county council having received a bid from the Essex-based Academies Enterprise Trust, and two proposals from the Church of England.

The Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich is proposing either a voluntary aided school or an academy.

A public meeting will be held at the Hotel Elizabeth Orwell in Felixstowe on June 29 at 7pm to explain the proposals.

Peter Tomkins, head of Orwell High, said the schools always expected there would be other potential bidders.

He said: “We have been in discussion with the Academies Enterprise Trust and they would be happy, if successful, to take a back seat and work through the Felixstowe Learning Trust.

“We also had some initial contact with the church but they decided to submit their own separate bid.”

After the public meeting, the council will consider feedback and is expected to make a decision in September.

In its submissions, the church said the nearest school for parents wanting to send their children for secondary education with a religious character was St Alban's Catholic High in Ipswich.

It said: “Christianity does not have a monopoly on spirituality but is distinctive in that it seeks to explore and encourage spirituality through sharing the Christian story and this is key to the contribution the Church of England can make in transforming the school.”

Who should run the new school? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk