The review will advise Ministers this summer. It will be led by Ian Stewart, who retired last year as Chief Executive of Cambridgeshire County Council, and has previous experience both as a senior civil servant in the departments responsible for education and as a footballer and football manager.

The review’s terms of reference are “To advise Government on potential options for securing an educational legacy at the Olympic Stadium site after the 2012 Games”.  The review will consult widely among the many expert stakeholders: sporting, educational, local and Olympic.

The Ministers emphasised that the proposal was designed to complement, not to replace, the legacy use of the stadium field of play itself as a sporting venue. Negotiations are continuing to secure football and rugby teams as ‘anchor’ tenants, alongside the planned summer use of the stadium for athletics.

Olympics Minister Tessa Jowell said:
 
“The stadium has the potential to inspire future generations with the Olympic ideals of young people striving for excellence.  A school designed to nurture sporting and related achievement could be an excellent legacy embodying those ideals.

But we need to be sure that any new provision would be viable as part of future plans for sport and for the Olympic Park. The review will approach its task with an open mind, looking to grasp the unique opportunity provided by the site but also to ensure that any proposal goes with the grain of what the people of the area need and want”

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Schools Minister, Jim Knight said:

“We are determined to ensure that the country obtains the maximum educational benefit from the Games, both in east London and across the nation.  The stadium site needs to be part of the overall plans for education in east London, including plans for training young people for employment and for further and higher education.

“Our initial legacy planning work shows strong support for an educational legacy in the Olympic Park, and we would like to explore the option of the stadium site as part of that.  The review will provide us with an expert assessment of the role which learning on the stadium site could play in time to inform the legacy plans we are now developing for the Park”.

Notes to Editors:

1. The terms of reference for the Olympic stadium educational legacy advisory panel are:
“To advise Government on potential options for securing an educational legacy at the Olympic Stadium site after the 2012 Games”.

The panel should have regard to:

• Sports’ governing bodies’ plans for training their competitors
• The sports facilities available within a short travelling distance of the Olympic Park
• Overseas practice in the education and training of athletes
• The educational and developmental needs of young athletes
• 14-19 and Secondary educational provision and needs in the host boroughs
• The planned Stratford City Academy
• Plans for further and higher education provision in the Olympic Park
• Links with the community in the host boroughs
• The overall legacy planning of the Olympic Park
• The supply and demand of other Olympic related skills

The panel should provide final advice by June 2008, and state which, if any, options it considers would be viable, and how they might best be managed and financed.

The panel shall in particular consult (in addition to the relevant Government Departments):

• Sports’ governing bodies
• The BOA
• UK Sport
• Sport England
• The Youth Sport Trust
• The British Paralympic Association
• Sports Coach UK
• Talented and elite athletes
  
  
• The GLA
• The host boroughs
• The Olympic Delivery Authority
• The London Development Agency
  
  
  
• The Learning and Skills Council
• Partnerships for Schools
• Head teachers of specialist sports schools
• The Principals’ Sports Group for Further Education
• Podium (the FE/HE Olympic partnership)