Council approval brings sixth-form centre step closer

MANSFIELD'S Manor Academy could get a new sixth form building after councillors gave the green light.

- By EDDIE BISKNELL

But the Secretary of State will have the final call, after governing body Sport England objected to the facility being built on an old basketball court.

The two-storey building, which would have two classrooms, two libraries, meeting rooms and a cafe, had been in planning stages for more than a year.

School leaders said “issues” over student satisfaction with existing facilities, after experiencing student “migration” to other sixth forms and colleges, prompted the plans.

Bosses concluded that the Manor campus was “dull” and not as “teenager-friendly” as other schools.

The academy, on Park Hall Road in Mansfield Woodhouse, has long taken sixth-form students, but with no purpose-built building for the 16-18-year-olds.