Eton Star College plans won’t fix Oldham’s education

Plans for an Eton College in Oldham mean millions of pounds of education investment into Oldham will be spent on getting tens of students to high-end universities, not addressing the town’s chronic issues getting thousands of 11–16 year olds better results at GCSEs, say Oldham Liberal Democrats.

Lib Dem councillors met with a representative from the school to discuss the plans, but were left at an impasse, as the plans simply do not address the education issues in the borough. 

Councillor Helen Bishop said: “We need to transform the outcomes in Oldham for the children who are simply not getting good enough results at GCSE to even get close to this ‘hothouse’ for students who want to get into Oxbridge.

“I don’t understand how decision makers in the Department for Education and from the former Labour administration at Oldham looked at the issues here, and decided ‘This is how we’ll spend people’s hard-earned money.’”

The plan for the Eton Star academy is to take around 240 students a year who are currently slightly underperforming – typically getting 7s at GCSE – and taking them up to the level needed for top level universities. 

Councillor Sam Al-Hamdani said: “Oldham Council and the Department for Education have a huge amount to answer for as to why this appears to be the only project on the table. It smacks of poor planning and accepting the first offer, not the right offer. Our children deserve better.

“This is simply the wrong offer in the wrong place. No matter how good it is, it doesn’t address the real problems.”