The Department for Education has announced its decision on new free schools. The second Doncaster UTC, supported by Doncaster UTC, will go ahead but the new UTC for Southampton, supported by UTC Portsmouth, will not. Both schools had been approved by the previous government.

Baker Dearing has issued the following response from our Chief Executive Kate Ambrosi:

“We are thrilled that the second UTC for Doncaster will go ahead.

“This will ensure more young people will access the technical and employability skills they need to progress to fulfilling careers in health science and green technology — the sectors this new UTC will specialise in.

“We are naturally disappointed that the Southampton UTC will not go ahead. Like the new Doncaster UTC, this would have provided life changing opportunities to young people in a very deprived area. It would have also helped meet an immense demand for places at UTC Portsmouth. We will be appealing to the Department for Education for a review of this decision.

“But the green light for the second Doncaster UTC tops off an incredible year for the UTC programme and Baker Dearing. Significant proportions of our leavers have continued to progress onto apprenticeships and STEM university courses. The highly positive report by Policy Exchange has demonstrated the immense value of UTCs to student engagement and to industry. And soon we will be welcoming a new member to the UTC community.”

See Kate’s comment in FE Week here.