Parents to find out more about new style school

STUDENTS at a new-style school set to open next year could land themselves paid work placements with big name firms such as Next, DHL, Waitrose and Caterpillar.

They are among a number of employers who have backed plans for the Sir Frank Whittle Studio School.

It is set to open in the grounds of the Lutterworth College next September and will eventually have 300 teenagers on its roll.

Studio schools are part of the government's strategy to improve vocational education and each specialise in specific subjects for 14 to 19-year-olds.

Lutterworth's will offer courses with industry-specific training in either engineering, retail and logistics, and leisure and tourism alongside GCSEs in English, maths and science.

Andrew Cooper, executive principle of Lutterworth College in whose grounds the studio school will be built, said the specialist areas were chosen due to its strong track record in engineering and the proximity to the huge Magna Park.

"No school in this area can offer this kind of opportunity to their pupils," Mr Cooper told us.

"For employers like the ones we have on board, who are good employers, to commit to paid internships shows they really are buying into this model.

"This is about trying to find different ways of making pupils want to stay on in education. There are already plans to raise the leaving age but if they are made to stay on yet aren't motivated then that will be a disaster.

"You could be the most gifted pupil academically, but bored out of your mind and what this offers is a whole different way of learning because you could be working on an enterprise project and then presenting it to a board of company directors. It is real learning."

The Sir Frank Whittle Studio School - sponsored by the Lutterworth Academies Trust which also runs Lutterworth College - was approved by the Department for Education in April.

A consultation begins on Monday with an open evening for prospective students and their parents on Thursday, October 10. It will be open to parents beyond Lutterworth College's normal catchment area.

Currently there are 26 studio schools around the country, including in Nuneaton and Hinckley, with 13 more to open next year.

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