§ Mr. BradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on the New Advanced School programme for secondary schools and how it differs from the Beacon School programme; and whether existing beacon schools will automatically transfer to advanced school status. [80992]
§ Mr. MilibandThe proposed Advanced schools programme intends to build on the success of the Beacon programme by ensuring the further development of enhanced collaborative partnerships and innovative practice. Guidance was posted on the Diversity website on 23 October setting out the scheme and a notice inviting applications was placed in the November issue of Spectrum, a departmental information source for schools.
It is our intention that any existing secondary Beacon school would be able to apply to transfer to the new programme but would need to meet the criteria in the same way as any other school. The Beacon programme will be phased out in the secondary sector by 2005. Those secondary schools due to renew their status from September 2003 will be given the opportunity to do so until August 2004.