Activities for pre-school children and new facilities for children with special educational needs are among the ideas being looked at as part of a plan to turn Norwich's struggling Hewett School into a 'learning village'.

Norfolk County Council has written to the Department for Education with plans to create the an inter-generational hub at the Cecil Road site, as an alternative to turning the school, which received an 'inadequate' Ofsted rating, into an academy.

James Joyce, chairman of the council's children's services committee, said: 'Ideas under discussion, alongside the rapid improvement of education for the 600 pupils currently being taught on the site, include the potential for further provision of post-16 education, enhanced early years activity, new facilities for children with special educational needs, an extended adult education presence, a family and community support centre and additional sports facilities.

'This is still an emerging proposal in its infancy. The next step is to carry out a feasibility study, and speak to colleagues in other parts of the country where learning communities are successfully up and running and making a difference to the lives of people who live nearby, to see what we can learn from them.

'We believe this is the right way to improve standards and help turn the vision for a learning village into reality. We will need now to hear the initial thoughts of the DfES, which we would expect in the New Year.

'In the meantime, we have also applied to the DfE to implement an Interim Executive Board (IEB) which pulls together people from the local community who know the school and its potential and educational specialists with a track record of school improvement.'

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