Skip to main content Skip to navigation

Public consultation on second WMG Academy for Young Engineers

A formal public consultation has opened on plans to develop a second WMG Academy for Young Engineers, in Solihull.

logoThe proposed new school will focus on engineering with science and is being supported by organisations including the University, Solihull Council and a large number of local employers, including Jaguar Land Rover, Controls and Data Services, ARUP, Prodrive and Dassault Systemes. These partners will help to shape the curriculum and the project-based learning approach of the new Academy. Pupils will take a problem-solving, practical approach to learning by working on real-world problems, set by the employer partners.

The Academy partners are keen to encourage employers, potential students and parents, the local community and other interested parties to respond to the consultation. Meetings with a range of key stakeholders are planned and there will also be a public meeting on 3 November.

The consultation deadline is 5pm on Friday 30 November 2014.

Find out more and share your views

Chief Executive of the WMG Academy Trust, Dr Richard Hutchins said:

This is an important stage in the development of our second WMG Academy. We really want to hear the views of all sectors of the community. We have had an overwhelmingly positive response from employers, students and parents to our first WMG Academy in Coventry, which opened its doors last month. There is a clear desire from both local and global employers to find employable young people with both technical and business skills. They realise that they have a role to play within this, which starts within education.

Our goal is to enable students from across Birmingham and Solihull to access to the same high-quality, innovative teaching we will be providing in the WMG Academy in Coventry; giving them the chance to gain technical qualifications alongside the national curriculum and gaining important business skills such as team-work, problem-solving and leadership.”

The Academy will be part of a new and exciting 'learning campus' catering for 640 pupils, aged 14 to 19 from East Birmingham and Solihull. It is planned that the school will be located in a new building on land to the north of Chelmsley Road and to the south on Conway Road, Chelmsley Wood.