Three struggling schools responsible for educating almost 3,000 of a town's children will be shut down and replaced by two new academies.

Plans were unveiled today for the closure of Filsham Valley, The Grove and Hillcrest schools in Hastings and St Leonards.

The new academies, at as yet undecided locations, would replace them from September 2011 under the East Sussex County Council plan.

They would be sponsored partially by the council itself, which said the move would enable it to maintain a democratic involvement.

The University of Brighton has agreed to be the lead sponsor with British Telecom as a co-sponsor.

The move was welcomed by Hastings and Rye MP Michael Foster.

Mr Foster said: "I know that the academy route can be contentious but I am encouraged that the lead sponsor is to be the University of Brighton, who have already shown their commitment to the town through their support for the University Centre and their strong links with the Hastings College of Further Education."

Mr Foster called for assurances the staff of the schools would not be affected by any changes.

Critics have opposed academies elsewhere, including in Falmer, Brighton, and in West Sussex, as a form of privatisation.

Academy sponsors are required to invest £2million into each project but in return they set up trusts which become owners of the school sites and are responsible for their curriculum and management. Typically the Government invests more than £20million on new buildings for the projects.

The council said it was unable to give details at present of how much funding would be provided by each of the sponsors.

A spokeswoman for the University of Brighton, which had already agreed to be a partner in the proposed Falmer Academy, said it wished to support all endeavours to improve education and attainment in Hastings.

The council said no decisions had yet been made about where the two new academies would be built.

The Grove, in Darwell Close, and Filsham Valley, in Edinburgh Road, are located close together in St Leonards, while Hillcrest is some distance away, in Rye Road, Hastings.

Each has been predicted to experience a pupil numbers fall in the next few years.

By 2012/13 The Grove is expected to have 527 of its 1,056 places empty while Hillcrest would have 362 of 821 spaces spare and Filsham Valley would not be able to fill 141 of its 942 places.

The council said the move would boost education in the Hastings area. The three schools, which were each highlighted by Education Secretary Ed Balls as failing to meet his minimum standards last month, have been working in partnership with an independent expert body called Ninestiles to drive improvement. The collaboration is due to end in 2011, when the academies would open.

An East Sussex County Council spokesman said: "This is a long-term strategy for the pupils and future pupils of those schools. We remain committed to the future of those pupils, which is why we have proposed to be a co-sponsor."

The council's cabinet will be asked at a meeting at County Hall in Lewes next Tuesday to give the go ahead for the project to move to the next stage, the preparation of an expression of interest to submit to the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

WEST Sussex County Council has confirmed it would close Littlehampton Community School and Boundstone Community College, in Lancing, in August 2009 to make way for new academies.

The two would be rebuilt in a £54million Government funded project, with sponsorship from the council and Woodard Schools, the Christian education body which runs Lancing College and a number of other independent schools.

The latest move means the plans will go ahead provided feasibility work is successfully concluded and approved by the Government.

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