A million pounds worth of “ringfenced” money will be going to help one of Bolton’s newest schools expand. Bolton Council has now signed off a transfer of around £1M in basic needs funding to the Department for Education to help with the expansion University Collegiate School (UCS), Bolton. A recent council meeting heard how the money had been put aside and was waiting to be transferred since having been approved all the way back in 2020.
Assistant director of children’s services Paul Rankin said: “It was ring fenced, its not additional. “This is exactly the same money that was ringfenced in 2020 that’s been sat there waiting for us to spend it at the appropriate time.” UCS Bolton is based on Deane Road (Image: Newsquest) Mr Rankin had been addressing a council executive member for children’s services meeting.
Deane Road based UCS Bolton took in its first pupils in September 2020, when it became a secondary school from being a technical college. It was rated as good across all areas in its most recent Ofsted report. The school, which teaches more than 540 pupils, both boys and girls, between the ages of 11 and 19 is part of the Quest Trust.
It was created as a way of meeting the rising demand for secondary school places all across Bolton in recent years. Earlier this year the Department for Education appointed contractors to work on an £17.6M scheme to expand the college.
A report put before the council said that the Department asked the authority to contri.