A HEADTEACHER has been polishing his sales technique to fill his empty new school.
Guy Hutchence has been targeting primary schools, nurseries and community groups to recruit pupils for the brand new East Manchester Academy.
The 900-pupil school will serve Beswick, Harpurhey and Openshaw, which contain some of England's poorest wards and do not have their own secondary school.
Children at a dozen primary schools have to travel several miles to the nearest high school, with many crossing the border into Oldham or Tameside.
The £32m East Manchester Academy - due to open next year on Grey Mare Lane - will specialise in construction and will also host a public library.
It will be walking distance from 10 primary schools and a short bus journey from a further 15, offering parents greater choice.
To avoid 'poaching' existing pupils from other schools, children will be recruited directly from primaries one year at a time, building up to its full capacity over five years.
Challenge
Mr Hutchence, who stepped down from Cedar Mount High School, in Gorton, to take on the new challenge, described his efforts to sign up parents and children.
He said: "People have been talking about building a school in the east for more than 10 years.
"My first priority is to go round primaries and tell teachers and parents about our new school.
"I've had to be a bit of a salesman because we don't have any exam results and the building won't be finished for a while.
"But we do have a fantastic opportunity to build the school's population slowly and carefully, with the first Year 7 being the pioneers who will set the tone for the school.
"One year at a time gives us the perfect opportunity to eradicate some of the fears traditionally associated with transition to a high school.
"The prospect of being the first ones in, with no older pupils to worry about has appeared especially attractive to parents too.
The school, which is being sponsored by building groups Bovis and Laing O'Rourke, will be open from 8am to 8pm and students will have access to one-to-one mentors.
Manchester council is opening six academy schools each backed by leading organisations such as BT and the Co-op Group.
Four will replace existing secondaries but the other two will be built in areas without existing schools.
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Black Flag (05/05/2009 at 13:35)
So, if the school proves to be better than those around it, children will be deliberately prevented from going there in order to protect the other schools. Maybe I missed something, but I thought schools were meant to meet the needs of pupils, not the other way around.
We need to go down the Swedish route; give parents school vouchers and let them choose where to spend them, without any discrimination between the private and state sectors.