Last updated 15:57, Wednesday, 07 May 2008

PARENTS of children enrolling in West Cumbria’s first academy school have been given a first report on its progress.

Mick Farley: Gave a progress report to parents

They packed into a hall at Wyndham School – the site of the West Lakes Academy – on Tuesday, for an opportunity to meet the principal and chief executive Barrie Cooper.

They were also able to see the school uniform, designed by pupils of Ehenside School and Wyndham – the two schools which will merge to form the new academy.

Mick Farley, spokesman for the Academy, said the evening had been a huge success.

He added: “It went very well. The lecture theatre at Wyndham was packed with parents.”

He said they had raised concerns over the cost of the new uniform, which features blazers, but added the clothing suppliers had put their minds at rest by explaining a £60 grant from the Department for Children, Schools and Families would cover the cost of every item, except socks.

Ehenside School, Cleator Moor and Wyndham, Egremont, will close later this year, ahead of the academy’s formation.

West Lakes Academy, which is enrolling 1,150 pupils, will operate from existing Wyndham school buildings.

It will specialise in science and business enterprise, with two of its three sponsors being Sellafield Ltd and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The third sponsor is the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan)

A new £25m purpose-built complex will be built on the Egremont site and is expected to be operational by 2011.