Great News for Bedford Academy

I am delighted that the Bedford Academy was included by the government amongst the schools listed previously as 'for discussion' which will receive funding for the projects planned under the Building Schools for the Future programme. The Academy will replace John Bunyan Upper School, of course, and as John Bunyan's Chair of Governors and the former former Ward Councillor for Kingsbrook, not to mention a local resident, I know the community very well. I am therefore aware of just how important the investment in the education of current and future generations of young people in the area will be.

The Academy's co-sponsors are the Harpur Trust and Bedford College, and Harpur Trust Chief Executive David Russell and College Principal Ian Pryce both attended and made the case for the Academy when representatives from the Borough, including myself, met Education Secretary Michael Gove recently. It really is fantastic news that the money for the planned new facilities will be forthcoming, helping to expand the opportunities for local children and young people, and the local community as a whole.

Current and former staff and students of John Bunyan Upper School who put so much into the school and who worked so hard have much to be proud of, as was recognised at the school's final awards evening in June. Now it's over to the academy, and the news that the government will provide the capital investment for the facilities the students had been promised is a wonderful start.