Dad and daughter left 'devastated' as Skills Academy is closing

SITE PROVIDED SMALLER LEARNING ENVIRONMENT FOR SOME STUDENTS

- By GARETH LIGHTFOOT

THE Skills Academy in Billingham is to close at the end of this week, with its education for teenagers to move to Stockton Riverside College in September.

One parent told how he and his daughter were reeling from the “bombshell”, which he only found out second-hand from the parent of a prospective student.

The Marsh House Avenue academy's provision will go to Stockton Riverside College from the next academic year.

The Education Training Collective (Etc.), the group of colleges and training providers that includes the academy, said it was a “strategic move”, which it admitted was “unsettling” for the staff and 14to 18-year-old students.

The news, which affects eight job roles, comes weeks after Etc. scooped its first ever “outstanding” rating from Ofsted, with inspectors saying learners and apprentices “flourish across all parts of the group” and felt valued and respected.

One dad said he was told of the closure by a friend whose child was due to start there in September. He thought it “can’t be true” until he was shown a letter from the academy.

He said his daughter, who suffered anxiety and bullying in her previous school, had thrived and excelled at the academy: “My daughter has absolutely thrived, she’s back to her bubbly self, she’s been a different kid. It’s the whole idea of the set-up.

“She doesn’t want to go into a big environment with lots of people. Kids who come out of mainstream school because they don’t want to be in an environment of 500 to 1,000 people go into an environment of 100 people and thrive there.”

Now the dad said the news could affect students’ mental health, it had already set his daughter back, and he was concerned about a potential move into a larger learning environment.