Nottingham City Council has applied for planning permission to build two academies proposed for the city, one in Bulwell and one in Bilborough.

The Bulwell Academy is on the site of River Leen School and will specialise in Enterprise. The Nottingham University Samworth Academy, which will be built on the William Sharp School site in Bilborough, will specialise in health and science. Both are due to open in September 2009. Both River Leen School and William Sharp School will continue to share the site until the Academy opens.

The two buildings will provide facilities at the leading edge of 21st Century educational design.

The Bulwell Academy incorporates five learning villages to ensure the 1,300 pupils each has a secure ‘human scale’ environment as a base. At the heart of the design are the facilities available for community use and an Enterprise Hub equipped and managed to provide links with local and national businesses and to be a focus for enterprise and regeneration in Bulwell.

The Academy is sponsored by Edge, an education charitable foundation and will take pupils from River Leen and Henry Mellish Schools when it opens in September 2009.

Admission arrangements will give priority to students who live in the existing catchment areas of the two schools. Graham Roberts, the current Head Teacher at Henry Mellish School will be the Principal of the Academy when it opens in 2009.

The Nottingham University Samworth Academy at Bilborough will cater for 950 students aged 11-19. The design reflects the educational intentions of the sponsor to use a focus on health and science to provide a rounded education for all pupils and to raise expectations and achievements. The Academy aspires to be more than a school by opening its facilities and resources as much as possible to the whole community.

Given the health and science focus of the Academy the building has been sympathetically designed as an iconic environmentally-friendly and healthy educational facility that fits into the landscape and will enable students to see and understand issues of environmental and health concern.

It will take all pupils who are attending William Sharp School and the admission arrangements will give priority to students who live in the existing catchment areas and also to family links.

Councillor Jane Urquhart, Nottingham City Council’s Portfolio holder for Children’s Services, said: "Great care has been taken with the position of both buildings and with the proposals to landscape the sites to benefit students and the local community and allow longer and more flexible opening hours for students and community access.

"The designs have been welcomed by parents, staff and students at the existing schools and by members of the public at consultation meetings during the design development. While there will be some disruption during construction, the final building will enhance the campus site, the neighbourhood and the education opportunities for the community."