Archive

March 19th 2024

Head Teacher Back's Campaign

The campaign undertaken by Councillor Dave Jones and supported by Councillor Phil Bateman has attracted its first high level support.
The campaign for a feasibility study for a Coppice High School Auditorium has quickly picked up the important personal backing from the schools Head Teacher.

Head Rob Rossides writes that the campaign for the Auditorium feasibility study will be reported to the Schools Governing Body this week. He also spoke warmly of the initiative and was very pleased with the actions that were being taken on behalf of the school.

Councillor Jones said " Wolverhampton as a city offers a good platform for culture for a city of our size. It is certainly better placed than some of the other Black Country towns and others in the region. Culture is a sector of the economy that can provide jobs and help create the sort of city that we need.

Tourism is an important and growing sector here in Wolverhampton. Having a school that provides good performing arts courses and activity leads young people into areas of the economy that they may never have considered.

It is this role that the school has developed that leads both Councillor Bateman and myself into believing that this type of development will offer lots of opportunities to students who want to build upon their talent and look to a career in music or other sectors of the Arts and Culture network.

Councillor Bateman said "An Auditorium will provide not only the facilities for the educational development of that opportunity, but it will also provide the type of physical attraction that will help develop an interest in the Arts locally.

In 2001 the City Council commissioned the Wolverhampton Economic Assessment it set out to map where the city was economically then and what we should be doing to improve our viability into the future.

That assessment suggested that Wolverhampton had a strong cultural environment and a strong sense of local identity. We believe that this development that we are now campaigning for is just the sort of project that will enhance that statement.

We know how successful Wolverhampton has been in the arts and the culture sector. We believe that now is the time for 'neighbourhood development' and this facility would be a real key to the future success of our community."

Author: Dave Jones

Article Date: 26th March 2007