The school review part 2

The second review of secondary education is under way in the city. The first review was a complete shambles. Cllr Adrian Johnson and I tabled a motion of no confidence in Cllr Ann Milton at the July council meeting and asked for her resignation. She did not resign despite a majority of Councillors calling for her to go.I attended the first meeting last week at Milbrook School. The school faces closure like Grove Park and Woolston schools.

The school review is being conducted due to the excessive number of surplus school places that exist in the city according to the Council. The argument that they are putting across is that the high number of vacant places in the schools means that if we reduce the number of schools we can spend more money on teaching and the children and less on overheads, such as heating and lighting part empty buildings. I do not accept this premise. There are advantages of a local school and smaller class sizes and I support this premise a lot more.The school review also shows the lack of long term planning by the Council, the Labour run Council put three schools through PFI (Private Finance Initiative) and thus they will not be included in the secondary school review. The meeting I attended in Millbrook highlighted the way that the Council wishes to take the school review. Cllr Milton read her script (in the first review she said nothing and then claimed she was gagged due to local elections even though they did not start until April). Then came the plans for what they wish to do and from this it became apparent that it was a fait accompli. This is not just about secondary education it is to create learning campuses combining secondary and primary schools on the same site (do we really want children from 5-16 all on one site??).What Cllr Milton forgot to say on the review of secondary education is that some of that money comes from Government grants that would otherwise be spent on primary schools in the City (is this why we are getting learning campuses). The Council is also banking on large sums of money from the Government in 2010. It's not guaranteed that this money will materialise and it's likely that it will be conditional on Private Finance Initiative arrangements.But this causes problems for Woolston which is a good local school which serves a diverse community and is popular with parents, staff and the community; it can not be a leaning campus as the site is too small.Schools have a diverse function and should be kept open if parents wish this. Grove Park has excellent sports facilities that would be lost if the school is closed.

The Lib Dems are keen to sell off Millbrook School to allow the playing fields to be developed for housing. The same is this true of Grove Park. This would mean a big cheque for the Council but a terrible loss of green space for local children. At the meeting Councillor Milton poured fuel on suspicions by refusing to rule out housing development, should the land be sold off. Quite sensibly people asked the question, if more houses are going to be built, where are the new children going to go to school?

In Woolston a development of over 1500 homes has been passed (although I did vote against this).