A multi-million pound purpose built building which has stood empty in Burton since 2015, will become a sixth form campus if trust bosses get the go-ahead next week.
De Ferrers Academy has high hopes for the mothballed University Technical College and is well on the way to transforming it into a third campus for existing and new students.
If the academy gets the green light, sixth formers will move into the premises adjacent to the Town Hall. This new site will provide much enhanced facilities, designed for a university-level education.
The new premises, which cost £8.6 million to build, will include enhanced teaching spaces, state-of-the-art science laboratories, a gym and fitness suite and a bespoke lecture theatre. In addition, there are social areas, facilities for private study, as well as library and careers bases.
Nick Holmes, principal of de Ferrers Academy said that the state-of-the-art facility, in Waterloo Street, will be acquired by the academy for a third campus if Trust Board members give their approval on Tuesday, December 5.
He said: "We are taking it very seriously and have been holding staff tours and consultation over the last few weeks.
"The courses we offer won't be those originally envisaged by the University Technical College but instead we will be offering a greater range of subjects that compliments the skill set of the staff and the requirements of the students.
"We are going to offer what we have expertise in and hopefully expectation will grow and numbers will increase. When we say this multi-million pound facility is for YOU we are recognising how important it is for our young people."
Mr Holmes says he does not want any more "rumours" about the plans and the academy hopes to take possession of the facility on January 1.
He said: "We are not going to be in competition with the college; if the academy has its way the building will become a third campus not a college and it will have the ethos that the academy has built up over the years.
"We hope to take possession of the building on January 1, 2018, which will give us nine months to get ready to open the doors in September 2018.
"The academy and the trust has a real team approach and we are absolutely in the position of being able to deliver."
The UTC was originally meant to open in September 2015 but the plan was put back a year due to low pupil numbers, then shelved altogether in September 2016.
The de Ferrers Academy Trust, which already runs several schools in the area later revealed its bid to run the facility as a sixth form college, while Wolverhampton University, which runs a nurse training facility at Burton's Queen’s Hospital, also put in a proposal to take over the running of the empty building.
