'I had to change schools to study music'

7:34am Tuesday 7th August 2007

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A TALENTED singer has been forced to switch schools to study music.

Charlotte McKelvie, who recently won a regional talent competition, left The Heath Specialist Technical College earlier this month after the school's decision to axe its GCSE music course next year.

The 14-year-old, of Ivy Street, Runcorn, said: "I had been at The Heath for three years. All my friends are there and the teachers were brilliant, but I want to perform on Broadway and I need to be singing and dancing at school.

"The school had a great reputation for performing arts, but it's cancelled it all now. It was a bit of a shock.

"There was nothing else I could do but move. I had to do it for my future."

The school, in Clifton Road, Runcorn, said it cancelled the course after popularity dipped.

Head teacher, Heather Mullaney, said: "There were not enough pupils wanting to do music GCSE so The Heath was not able to offer it for the forthcoming year.

"We did offer the pupils peripatetic lessons for free as an alternative."

The Year nine pupil, who won the Merseyside heat of the Jigsaw Entertainment Talent Quest, on July 8, transferred to Fairfield High School, in Peelhouse Lane, Widnes, last week to acclimatise before her GCSEs begin in September.

She said: "I was very worried at the start and wasn't happy because I was upset I had to leave The Heath, but Fairfield is a brilliant school. All the kids are really dedicated and want to do the same as me.

"Everybody puts everything into it and the facilities are fantastic."

Charlotte is now preparing to compete in the final of the over 14s category of the national talent competition at Blackpool in November.