Campaigners fighting to save Shropshire schools today raised fears that county council leaders are about to take a vital decision based on inaccurate data.They claim that a report detailing the factors which persuaded officials to draw up a list of 22 primary schools for closure, contains errors.
The report will be presented to the council cabinet on Wednesday.
It will decide whether or not to take the closure proposals to the next stage of the process, which is a public consultation. The plan to tackle falling pupil numbers also includes the amalgamation of 16 other schools.
Steve Barras, a parent governor at closure threatened Morville primary, near Bridgnorth, and a co-opted member of the council’s own education watchdog panel, has written to officials to highlight inaccuracies relating to the school.
He says the governing body “strongly refute” many of the claims made in the report.
Assumptions relating to the space usage and facilities available at the school are out of date and have been for sometime, he says.
The school also has four classrooms, not two.
Another leading campaigner, Carla Lowndes, who is helping to keep Buildwas primary open, said that she was “very frightened” that councillors would be taking a decision based on wrong information.
But Norrie Porter, the council’s premises and planning manager, said: “All the data contained in the report is taken from responses made by schools to either Shropshire County Council or the Government’s Department of Children, Schools and Families.”
3 Comments
My children attend Selattyn CofE school and we were staggered when we read the papers on the Council website.
The school’s descriptions in their list bears no resemblance to the actual school I know - a successful school that is so full it is turning pupils away. The report has no standard criteria and lists the negative features of each school, but fails to point out their strengths. How can Councillors be expected to make an informed decision when they are not in possession of all the facts?
Of course they do. ‘Nuff said. I bet they call for more time, additional information and independent assessment, too. If you don’t like the way a decision is shaping up, don’t argue the case, procrastinate and obfuscate.
My children attend Tilstock C E Primary school. It appears to me common sense has left the council with little chance of return. Their excuses to close these school are totaly unfounded. In our case the Whitchurch Schools are becoming over-full, and other local schools are turning away pupils because of raising numbers, our school believes we can grow esp as the council keep approving more and more housing developments to be built, were do they believe our children should be taught, in over sized class rooms were our children dont recieve the attension they need to grow? On wed this week some of the parents, teachers and pupils will be outside shirehall in protest of these mad closures.We cant let this happen, its taking away our childrens right to a fair education, it take the parents right of choice away and after all we are the tax payers, why keep putting the taxes up and take away vital services which are needed?