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The HISTORY of REDDITCH New Town

New Century, More Changes

Almost 250 pupils from two Redditch schools will be forced to move to different venues
to be taught after the half term holiday next week.

Pupils will be moved from Arrowcrest First and Lodge Farm Middle schools to allow building
work to take place. It comes months before the Redditch Review is actually due to come
into force in September. Pupils from Year 7 at Lodge Farm will have to catch a bus from
the school to St Stephen's Middle School while an extensive £1 million building project is
carried out.

And 120 pupils from Arrowcrest will be sent to Ipsley First while a £750,000 building
scheme is completed. A new middle school, to be called Woodfield, is currently being
developed on the site of Lodge Farm in Studley Road, Lodge Park, to cater for extra pupils
from St Stephen's, which will close.
And a new first school, to be called Oakhill, is being developed on the site of Arrowcrest,
in Wirehill Drive, Lodge Park, which will take pupils from Ipsley when it closes.

Plans to sell off the school sites due to close in July after the Redditch Review are being
worked on in an effort to raise £2 million.

Worcestershire County Council is in discussion with Redditch Council over the future of
Bridley Moor, St Stephen's Middle, Ipsley First, Claybrook First, Icknield First and St John
Fisher.

The move comes after the Redditch Education Review was launched in an effort to cut
2,000 extra places saving £800,000 a year.
The county council is focusing on sites at St Stephen's Middle in Riverside, Ipsley First
School in Greenlands and St John Fisher First School in Church Hill, which is partly owned
by the Diocese.

The end of term was tinged with sadness as schools prepared to close or merge under
the Redditch Review, Three-and-a-half years after plans to cut 2,000 places were first
mooted, thousands of parents and pupils are preparing for change.
Worcestershire County Council carried out the biggest review of education in the country,
sparking outrage across Redditch.
Two new high schools, Kingsley College and Trinity High, have already predicted better
GCSE results over the next four years. Meanwhile, £12 million is being ploughed into new
school buildings.

The rise of Academy schools, free from some local education controls, threatens the
stability of the 3-tier system as some “High Schools” plan to take “Middle School” pupils.

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