A NEW academy which had been set to replace two Wirral schools labelled among the UK’s worst is among the victims of the shelved Building Schools For the Future projects.

Park High School,Birkenhead and Rock Ferry High School were this year ranked in the country’s worst 200 based on the percentage of candidates getting at least five A* to C grades in subjects including English and maths.

They were due to be replaced by a new academy on the Park High School site, possibly as early as this September.

But the scheme is not among the projects to survive the cull.

A £12m rebuild and refurbishment at Birkenhead High School for Girls, which became an academy in September is now uncertain with the project listed as up “for discussion.”

Wirral council had earmarked an overhaul of all its secondary schools.

Birkenhead had been identified as an area to benefit from the first phase and the previous government had indicated it could have begun as early as next year subject to detailed submissions.

Deputy leader of the Labour group on Wirral Council Cllr Phil Davies who up until May was the borough’s cabinet member for education said: “I am appalled.

“The new academy to replace Park High and Rock Ferry was a once in a lifetime opportunity to raise standards and provide a state of the art education facility in one of the poorest areas of Wirral. They have dashed the dreams of the borough’s pupils.”