A brand-new music school will be built in West Bromwich with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) and Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust.
The Department for Education recently approved funding for the Shireland CBSO School – a new non-selective and non-fee paying specialist music school in Sandwell to be run by the Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust in collaboration with the CBSO.
It will open for year seven and Year 12 pupils in 2021, growing to a maximum capacity of 870 students aged 11-18 by 2025.
The school will be the first in Britain to be established in collaboration with an orchestra and marks a radical new approach to music education, innovatively addressing the much-publicised decline in the position of the creative arts in many schools.
The school will be based across two sites in the town of West Bromwich. The two sites earmarked are the site of the former Gas Showroom occupied on the High Street and Providence Place next to Travelodge, West Bromwich.
Every child will be given the opportunity to learn a musical instrument, with tuition delivered in partnership with Sandwell Music Service, and to participate in choirs and ensembles as well as regularly attending CBSO concerts at Symphony Hall.
Councillor Yvonne Davies, Leader of Sandwell Council welcomed the decision. She said: “This is fantastic news and we are delighted to work with the CBSO on the first school of its kind in the country.
“We are also thrilled to be working with Shireland Collegiate Trust who already run a number of successful schools in Sandwell.
“The school is unique in its offer and will give our young people a wonderful opportunity to further their musical talents.
“This fits in with many of our priorities in Sandwell that form our vision for 2030 including giving children the best start and having a national reputation for getting things done.
“The school will also give a boost to the surrounding areas in West Bromwich Town Centre. This project will also mean West Bromwich Town Hall will play host to many more performances and attract audiences from Sandwell and further afield.”
Stephen Maddock OBE, Chief Executive of CBSO, says: “We are delighted and hugely excited to be able to move ahead with our plans for this new specialist music school, which will offer access to music education, regardless of background, in an area where such opportunities are so desperately needed. The CBSO has a long tradition of innovation in music education and community work – we were the first British symphony orchestra to present concerts for young people and the first to establish a specialist education department and to build a community facility – all of which have allowed us to make a real musical impact on young people and the wider community in the West Midlands. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our 100th anniversary next year than by launching an inclusive and nurturing school which will help create the musicians of the future.”
Sir Mark Grundy, Chief Executive of Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust, adds: “As a Trust we are hugely proud to be asked to develop a new type of Free School and feel privileged to be creating a School with a curriculum focussed around Music in collaboration with the CBSO. The Arts enrich our young peoples’ lives in so many ways and the opportunity to create a school which nurtures the musical ability of the students in our locality is an honour. The partnership that is emerging between our Trust, the CBSO and Sandwell Local Authority is unique.”
The school will be funded by the Department for Education through the free school funding programme and will be run by Shireland Collegiate Academy Trust, a rapidly-growing Trust in the West Midlands led by the Shireland Collegiate Academy (rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted).
