PLANS have been submitted to the education minister for a cyber security college in the heart of Hereford.

The Robert Owen Academy, Blackfriars Street, is due to close in its current form at the end of this academic year after having its funding cut by the regional schools commissioner for the West Midlands.

The school has now found a new sponsor in the form of South Gloucestershire and Stroud College which wants to convert the site into a centre for cyber security.

Currently the school has 51 pupils, aged from 14 to 19. If the plans are approved they will be able to complete their studies at the college.

Paul Cordey, principal at Robert Owen, said there is no alternative but to change the school’s current model.

“We do a really good job with kids, but get nowhere near the same level of financial support as alternative schools,” said Mr Cordey.

“Ideally, we would become an alternative provider, but the local authority has got to back that and I don’t think they will. The public funding from the authority stops in August, but that doesn’t mean we have to close. If we close where are these kids going to go?

“I currently have three headteachers emailing me asking if I can take pupils who are being excluded. Our intake is not the normal mainstream system. We don’t mind taking them and want to help them.

“The trust had a vision and I have had a difficult conversation with them and they have agreed to disband. We are now running out of money and need to do something different and the model of the school needs to change.”

Mr Cordey has been inspired by Berkeley Green University Technical College, Gloucestershire, which provides specialist high-quality vocational and academic education for learners aged 14 to 18 for advanced manufacturing, digital technologies and cyber security. The proposal has been sent to the minister for education and the regional school’s commission to make a decision.

“I know that similar schools work. This is not just a shot in the dark,” said Mr Cordey.

“This is a really big chance to set up a new and different type of school. This is a fantastic opportunity as if we built a new school it would cost millions when we could just convert this building into a cyber security college.

“We want people of this community to have some choice of change and do something different. We are also looking to talk to the NHS Trust to see if we could incorporate a health and well being school and feed through nurses to the hospital. I don’t want us to continue as it is, but want to do something else.

“We are not precious about the site, but the building is already here. It might cost £20 million to build something like Hereford Academy where as this site will cost very little in transformation costs.”

“Hopefully the school can be a beacon reaching out to pupils in Worcestershire, South Shropshire and Powys.”