Government officials have confirmed Liverpool Council’s bid for a new 800-place girls’ school can move forward
Dr Badr Abdullah, chair of Liverpool Muslim Council
Division of a community over the siting of a new school to serve hundreds of Liverpool girls would have been “completely unacceptable and self-defeating”, it has been claimed. A new 800-place school in L8 is to go forward after successful talks between Liverpool Council and education ministers.
When the proposals were announced in February, there were concerns the plans could lead to the relocation of the historic African Caribbean Centre that has stood off Upper Parliament Street for half a century. Star Academies – a mixed multi-academy trust that runs a diverse network of primary and secondary schools nationwide – will operate the Eden Girls’ Leadership Academy, Liverpool on a site neighbouring the centre with a Muslim faith designation.
Dr Badr Abdullah, of the Liverpool Muslim Council, said he hoped the community would now “thrive together” having lived together in L8 for generations. Dr Abdullah said any relocation of the historic centre at the expense of the school would not have been palatable.
Approval to move to the next stage of the process follows talks held between Cllr Liam Robinson, leader of Liverpool Council, and Georgia Gould, schools minister. The approved proposal submitted to the Department for Education ensures that the land surrounding the adjacent African Caribbean Centre building will remain untouched.
Initial proposals were not considered acceptable to the centre’s trustees and the wider community prompting a rethink. Dr Abdullah said the decision to move forward was a positive development for L8.
Merseyside Caribbean Council Community Centre(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
He said: “This is the single biggest capital investment in the L8 community in decades and will transform educational opportunities for girls in some of Liverpool’s most economically deprived areas. Liverpool has set out its ambitions to build a world-class knowledge economy.
“Eden Leadership Academy’s focus on STEM subjects will enable girls from this part of the city to realise their potential and contribute to Liverpool’s future growth and prosperity. We always believed that there had to be a solution that guaranteed the future of this established and highly valued community asset, while enabling the school development to proceed on neighbouring land.
“It would have been completely unacceptable and self-defeating had this issue divided the L8 community. We have lived together for generations and will hopefully thrive together in the future too.”
A 125-year lease was granted to the DfE and Star Academies for the development of the new school on approximately four acres of land earlier this year. DfE officials identified L7/L8/L15 postcode areas as the required geographic search area for the new school.
During its opening year, the school will admit an intake of 120 pupils in Year 7. The school will continue to admit a new intake of Year 7 pupils at the beginning of each academic year.
Information regarding the school’s opening date will be announced in due course.
Dr Abdullah added: “We are looking forward to working alongside the African Caribbean Centre and other community groups in the area to ensure that local young people from across this area can benefit from this huge capital investment in L8.”