Education in Birmingham could enter a new era after the University of Birmingham announced proposals to create a pioneering secondary school and sixth form.
Plans for the 700-pupil school, which will be called the University of Birmingham School and Sixth Form, will be submitted to the Department for Education in a matter of weeks.
The school, which could open to students in 2014 near the university’s campus in Edgbaston, will be a mixed ability state institution to prepare pupils to study at Birmingham and other top institutions.
If approved, the school will be also be a centre for a teacher training programmes, making it one of the first university training schools in the country. It will also see an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM).
Edward Peck, pro-vice-chancellor and head of the College of Social Sciences, who is leading the proposals, said the school would be a “major player” in the field of teacher training.
Prof Peck said: “Having our own school will allow us to explore and research teaching methods.
“It will allow the university to be a key player in the development of teacher training, and through partnership to other schools in Birmingham, we will be able to enrich education across the city.”
If given the green light, the school would take 150 pupils into Year 7 and 200 into the sixth form.
The curriculum will focus on academic rather than vocational subjects, with the majority of students expected to stay on into the sixth form before progressing on to the University of Birmingham itself, or other institutions within the Russell Group of top universities.
Pupils will study a broad range of subjects including three sciences and a modern language at GCSE.
The school will also have a strong international element, including students sitting the International Baccalaureate, rather than traditional A-levels, as an option in the sixth form.
Prof Peck said: “We have a very successful access programme where we encourage students who would not normally think of applying to the university, but we find that the majority of these students go on to study humanities subjects, social sciences or arts.
“We would be delighted to see more students opting for subjects like science, so the school would have an emphasis on STEM subjects.”
The university is working in partnership with the Training and Development Agency for Schools to develop its proposals and if successful, Birmingham would be one of the first university training schools in the country.
The training school model, which was first outlined in the Schools White Paper in 2010, would combine three key functions of teaching pupils, the training and development of trainees and teachers, and education research.
It would also have close links to the university’s School of Education, which currently trains 350 primary and secondary teachers, and which was rated “outstanding” after an Ofsted inspection in July last year.
However, one high-ranking city educationalist has expressed concerns that other city schools would be “destabilised” by the move.