Nine Shropshire Schools face the axe
Tuesday 8th February 2011, 12:00PM GMT.
Nine Shropshire schools – including a Shrewsbury secondary – face the axe under new plans revealed today aimed at tackling falling pupil numbers and funding shortages.
Shirehall education chiefs say action is needed to maintain a “sustainable network” of schools. Under the plans 20 more schools could form “federations” – working closely together, sharing resources but retaining independence.
Eight primary schools would close in the summer of 2012 and the Wakeman secondary school in Shrewsbury faces closure in July 2013.
Wakeman pupils would move to Meole Brace School.
The proposals going to Shropshire Council’s cabinet next Tuesday are:
- Create an “all through” school at Rhyn Park, St Martins, near Oswestry, for pupils aged three to 16.
- Create a single school in Shawbury by combining Shawbury Primary and St Mary’s on the Shawbury Primary site.
- Extend Buntingsdale Infant School, near Market Drayton, into a full primary.
- Close Wakeman School & Arts College, Shrewsbury.
- Reduce overall capacity by closing Barrow, Hopton Wafers, Onny (Onibury), Maesbury, Stiperstones and Lydbury North Primary Schools.
- The proposed federations “strongly recommended” to governing bodies are:
Whitchurch Infant and Junior Schools; Norton-in-Hales and Woore Primary Schools; Baschurch, Weston Lullingfields and Myddle Primary Schools; Woodfield Infants and St George’s Junior, Shrewsbury; Market Drayton Infant and Junior schools; Newcastle, St George’s (Clun), Clunbury and St Mary’s (Bucknell) Primary Schools; Ludlow Infant and Junior Schools; Kinlet, Stottesdon and Farlow Primary Schools.
Today, Andy Rayment, chairman of governors at the Wakeman, described the Shropshire Council proposals as a “knee- jerk” reaction to what was a temporary dip in school numbers for the county.
Wakeman headteacher Karen Moore warned that the school would “campaign vehemently” against moves to close it. A report detailing the plans will be presented to the council cabinet next Tuesday.
Aggie Caesar-Homden, cabinet member for children and young people’s services at the unitary council, said today: “The report is asking cabinet to agree to consult on the proposals and I want to stress that at this stage no decisions have been made about the future of education in the county.”
The cabinet will be asked to approve further consultation on each of the potential changes. The consultation period will be six weeks.
David Taylor, the authority’s corporate director for people’s services, said alternative proposals could emerge during this process and they would be seriously considered.
A final decision will be made in July.
The report says the council has lost £10 million in grant funding over the last five years because of falling pupil numbers. In January last year there were 36,888 pupils registered in Shropshire primary and secondary schools, which is 2,560 fewer than in 2005.
Numbers are forecast to drop to 34,860 by 2014.
The report also contains a pledge that money saved will be ploughed back into schools.
By Education Correspondent Dave Morris
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Have these bigwigs thought of the transport implications all these changes may cause? Some children may need taxis, minibuses or coaches laid on to get some children to school. Look at all the pros and cons.
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I thought it was the parents responsibility to get thier children to school. Stop wanting someone to pay your child care and do it yourself. No wonder tour in this mess
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I presume the closure of the Wakeman School will be something to do with redevelopment plans of the Gay Meadow site?
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its nothing to do with the gay meadow development its because the wakeman is not getting the same number of pupils as the bigger schools like meolebrace and priory
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That land must be worth a fortune though.
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The old Meadow site is flooded at the moment, the land is not worth much unless you pay huge insurance costs
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Well said it is the most saleable asset which will draw a premium once gay meddow is built upon these councillors are a discrase we have already lost 11 million for pool which sabc more then likely got from sale of council houses yet alot of these councillors are not shrewsbury residents the school has had some 4 million spent on it in the labour years come clean and admit a new shopping centre or leisure facilitys for the new development.
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We have just moved our daughter to Wakeman as she was not coping in a larger secondary school. All of the other schools are enormous compared to Wakeman. She is a really bright child but is SEN and there is no way she will cope if she has to go back to a larger school. This closure will ruin her life.
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Christa this council do not care about the young people at school increase the class sizes and lessen the learning we need to fight thi and it goes to a meeting on the 15th feb at shire hall everyone needs to write to the mp and take this serious as it has a prefound effect on all the pupils.
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i think its a really bad idea closing the wakeman, the school might not be getting the same numbers in as other schools but the wakeman is achieving better grades than other schools including the grange
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The much-loved and highly-regarded Barrow CofE Primary School near Broseley is slated to close at the same time as the nearby Shropshire Way has had perfectly serviceable stiles replaced by steel kissing gates. Where is the joined-up thinking? Where do councillors’ priorities lie?
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Haven’t they just finished major building work on the wakeman?
Perhaps with the ‘big society’ the council is hoping that the community take over the schools?
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Outrageous!. Hey, isn’t this prime development land?. Why the lack of community consultation?. I smell a rat!.
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Vote ConDem – close schools…
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Funny how the “condem” are being cited as responsible for this situation when the process actually started 5 years ago when the “condem” party was but an improbable pipe dream. Oh and just to further stoke the doom mongers out there I believe these are proposals with further consulation proposed before any decision is made. And lets face it the elected memebers who vote on the proposals have previous on wimping out on tough, unpopular but necessary decisions.
But hey this is Shropshire star reporting at its provactive best!
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dont forget that shropshire county council caved in last time as the unitry was going to happen and as many of the cuts where in tory heartlands they may have lost seats now they have a dictatorship where they can do what they want and in 3 years time when they are up for election all will be forgotten
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Our son started at the Wakeman in september.( I left there in 1995 myself) After the first open night we went 2 with him it was his and ours first choice and never went 2 another schools open evening,our minds were made up!. He has come on leaps and bounds and loves it there,he has got a great report and briiliant grades.Great teaching, lovely atmosphere,and if our son is happy then so are we. Please don’t let this happen.Try and imagine moving your child from a school that is doing well and that they are doin well in 6 months after they have started to start all over again in a new one. KEEP WAKEMAN OPEN!!!!!
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I think that obsurd to close the wakeman and the other schools, maybe more money should be spent making sure the parents get their children to the schools instead of letting them go truant or just not attending? Then they couldn’t moan no pupils are at these schools.
Imagine the money they could get by selling off the wakeman’s sports field though, nice bit of real estate for someone…
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Glad I’m not the only one who thinks the closing of the wakeman has more to do with land development as opposed to saving money. I can accept that the more rural schools are less cost effective, that’s just common sense. However, the wakeman is a town school, good results, good reputation, serviced by pretty much every bus route that operated around shrewsbury and its surrounds – something doesn’t smell right.
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Does anyone know the time scale for these proposed closures. I have a daughter in year 9 at the Wakeman and she will be devastated when she hears the news,she is settled and getting on well but this is bound to disrupt her education.
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it will close in 2013 if you read !!
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Another reason to join the anti-cuts march and rally in Shrewsbury on Saturday, 19th February.
Assemble at the Shirehall at 11.00. See http://www.shropshirefightsback.org.uk
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With all these cuts it’s agood job we blew £480,000 on the Dinosaurs back bone on Smithfield.
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that was the same council who ring fenced 11 million for the swimming pool then shropshire council spend it anywhere but the pool which will be next on the list for closure another supermarket anyone.
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Not to mention the amount Shropshire Council is spending on private counsultants for staff psychometric testing and refurbishing Chief Executive offices
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And £500,000 last year to prop up Theatre Severn…if we’re in such tough financial times, we can ill afford to subsidise cultural events for the more monied. £34 to see the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra – how many people is that really an option for??
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That was sponsered as part of the Darwin celebrations Robton and I’m sure Wakeman School and Arts College agree it is an asset to Shrewsbury.
I would like to know why we are spending money on the remains of an old Railway Station at Abbey Foregate when there is no proven huge public interest nor business plan as to the need for such a facility.
With the money apparently set aside by SABC for this project of around £140,000 and the development value of the site which could have provided housing we are looking at £300,000 + taxpayer’s money for a minority rail enthusiast group when other far more essential charities are being denied funding.
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And these cuts come in after they publically announce the loss of 4 top jobs at the council and when they ‘don’t’ announce 4 new jobs:
Area Director up to £110k
Corporate Head of Finance and Commerce up to £100k
Group Manager for Business Growth and Prosperity up to £85k
Group Manager for Public Protection up to £85k
http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/vacancies.nsf/open/120D1084F459B40F802578250054B672
Need I say anymore.
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This decision is little short of a crime. It is hardly unexpected, since the ground was laid for it by the systematic sowing of rumours of Wakeman’s closure over many years. I am a teacher in the school, and I first heard the rumours within weeks of my arrival over five years ago. These rumours gained a momentum of their own and became self-fulfilling prophecies. Prospective parents heard these rumours and decided not to send their child to a school that may close, and so the numbers plummetted. We have not been helped by our lack of a catchment area, and perhaps we have been too bashful in not proclaiming our many successes and triumphs such as the gaining of Artsmark Gold status. Wakeman is a gem of a school with lovely pupils and is a fantastic place to be both as teacher or pupil. This, unfortunately, has been one of Shrewsbury’s less well-known facts. A very sad day for the school and the town.
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There simply are not enough students at Wakeman to bring in the money necessary to pay teachers, buy resources and maintain the huge buildings. This is not due to truanting (!) but the fall in the number of school age children in the area.
Financially it is not viable to keep the school open, and there are enough surplus places at other schools to offer parents and children a number of choices when the time comes.
It is far from ideal, but in reality the school should have been closed some time ago, and huge sums of money have already been wasted in maintaining the school and paying teachers who were no longer teaching full classes or timetables. Anyone sending their child to the school in recent years must have been aware that this was likely to happen, and this is no doubt a major reason why a lot of parents have already chosen to take their children elsewhere.
Not an easy decision, but the right one.
However, the money being wasted on kissing gates, road crossings, and dinosaurs is a different matter, and does clearly show the lack of cohesive planning / thinking that is going on…..or not going on.
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Maybe Meole is not full to capacity because it has a whopping 243 intake figure. Surely this is ridiculous.
Also, children are individuals and have individual needs, just like adults. And, like adults, some will thrive in a busy atmosphere and others will not.
So therefore, is not the right thing to do.
Children are human beings not objects to do whatever we desire.
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it will make posh flats too, nicely valuable for residential or a nice posh hotel unlike some of the other sites hey>
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WE cannot keep forking out for under-used facilities, WE haven’t got any money, the last administration used it all, or has everyone already forgotten Liam Byrnes’ note to his treasury replacement announcing the cupboard was bare?
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Karl,
Check out the economic facts:
Debt as a proprtion of GDP inherited – 62% of GDP. Debt caused directly by lending to failed risk-taking banks – 30% of GDP – or nearly half the aforementioned figure.
Net fiscal debt – 32% – not an historically high figure.
Tax avoided and or evaded by the wealthy and large companies in the UK annually – up to £120bn
Did they close your school before they got to maths ‘O’ level?
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You want to keep all these schools half empty but still open? You, the parents, find the money to do so then. The councils have no money to keep all these schools open, fact. Get over it, some things will have to go and the blame game is not going to change that. As for the rural ones, well since you live out of the way I should think you’ve all got cars to get around.
I know, lets get the money to keep them all open by closing Shrewsbury Hospital instead!
Do you see how difficult this is? Everyone agrees cuts need to be made as long as it doesn’t affect them. Stop criticising the gov’t and councils and come up with a constructive alternative instead. Unless someone out there actually knows where money grows on trees?
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Some people who live in rural areas do not do so out of choice… but out of duty, for example families of military personnel.
Majority of the partners and wives can’t drive so walk to the nearest primary school or rely on council transport to transport their children to school. These are people who can’t ask their partners, wives or husbands to drive as they are posted in Afghanistan.
People in towns do not realise how easy they have it until they live in a rural area. I have lived in many places in the country including cities, like London and towns like Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton. People take everything for granted – bus travel, schooling, housing, shopping even street lights (and we have had ours switched off since August by Shropshire council!)! We are all for the cuts, to save our total budget etc… but there needs to be sense. Closing 9 schools to pay for the extension ofan infant school into a primary school is not cost effective.
If people want to keep the schools open – then go down the ‘Free schools’ route. People need to be proactive and not reactive. We always knew that schools would need to close or merge, BUT…. without proper research and evidence AND people attending the consultation meetings starting at the end of February till early April (if the proposal is passed by Shirehall on 15th Feb), we will have a situation which will keep repeating itself and will never be truely resolved now or in the future.
And as for council plans… the ‘contract’ which was signed with Veola, for 27 years, was done behind closed doors… and we were only told when it was too late.. at least this time people are being warned!
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Another reason to join the anti-cuts march and rally in Shrewsbury on Saturday, 19th February.
Assemble at the Shirehall at 11.00. See http://www.shropshirefightsback.org.uk
Read more: http://www.shropshirestar.com/education/2011/02/08/nine-shropshire-schools-face-the-axe/#ixzz1DNyrRojZ
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Can anyone tell me if there will be a pro-cuts march and rally?
It is after all supposed to be a democratic society.
It often seems at times that the intransigents are the only ones with a voice heard by the media.
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Pro-cuts rally?
It’s known as a Conservative party meeting.
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People who are opposed to the cuts have organised a march and rally – it’s up to those who support the cuts to organise whatever they like (preferably a long march off a very short pier….).
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The closures of these schools has NOTHING to do with the “cuts” in public services. In the last five years the number of U16 children in Shropshire schools has fallen by an average of 500 each year. As we get £4,000 for each pupil from Government that means the education budget has fallen by £2 million a year or £10 million overall. We have to close schools in response to this falling school age population.
ALL the money saved from the closure of the Wakeman will stay in secondary education in Shropshire. Most will follow the children to their new schools allowing those schools to spend more on teachers and teaching assistants. The savings made on overheads: management costs (Head, Deputy, Assistant), administration, cleaning, heating, rates, insurance, repairs…. will be shared across all Shropshire secondary schools. As a result many children will benefit from more money being spent directly on their education and less on buildings and management salaries. Surely a good thing for the majority?
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Am utterly dismayed and angry, my son started in sept and is high functioning autistic, he’s just starting to settle and now he may need to change schools in 2013, thats so much upheaval for him.
I’ll help fight the closures as much as I can, its madness considering the amount of money thats recently been invested in the school. I chose it specifically because it was the smallest senior school and its Art’s College status, the teachers have been amazingly supportive to my son and I can’t praise their SENCO and other staff enough, history in particular has become his favourite subject and he has blossomed, in any other much larger school I feel he would be lost.
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I agree, their holistic attitude is second to none and is why we chose it over other schools with our daughter with autistic traits. Not only do the staff care but they also have the time to care. She is very bright so her previous secondary school didn’t care about her other needs, which meant that she didn’t want to attend. This school meets her needs which couldn’t be met in a large and very highly regarded mainstream school and she is definitely not suited to a SN school.
Stop trying to put our spiky children into square boxes.
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I thought the school leaving age was going up …where are they supposed to be going…if they are closing schools??
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Whilst the age of compulsory education was supposed to go up to 18, this won’t affect most of the secondary schools in Shropshire as most post-16 provision is delivered through 6th Form colleges. Other than those, only faith schools, academies and the independents teach through to 18.
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Most people appreciate that we do have to make economies and that cuts are unpalatable, however, some cuts are too deep and will affect the entire life of a generation only just starting their life. The closure of these schools, especially The Wakeman School will have a profound effect on the children. It is the children and their future that will pay the greatest price, far more than can be shown on a ledger!
I expect that someone will respond to this post with the political diatribe (or ranting)we are so used to hearing accompanying these cuts – this is a democracy (so I’m told) so your entitled to your opinion. The only difficulty is that, currently, if you have an opinion counter this government (or anyone with political power) your opinions and quality of life is without value.
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It’s terrible news for parents if your kids are happy & settled and doing well at wakeman and then their education is disrupted and it has a detrimental effect upon their learning.
It will be traumatic for the kids having to move and re -adjust at another school.We can’t all afford to send our kids to Eton like Dave C’s dad did.
Make your feelings known on this issue to your MP,bear this in mind when the next election rolls round.
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fair enough.
im not sure about the wakeman with shrewsbury population rising and new housing estate planned on the gay meadow but the south shropshire primary schools are (im very sad to say) completely uneconomic and unviable, its harsh but the cuts are now a good excuse to do what should have been done years ago and remove some of these sites so all children get a good education not just wealthy ones who live in lush rural villages in the AONB. of course the other solutions these NIMBYS would hate is to build a estate of council housing on the back of each of these villages which would make the rural primaries more viable !! any takers ??
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What makes you think that rural areas are only for the wealthy? Just because average incomes may exceed those in towns does not mean that everyone is wealthy – that’s how averages work!
Many parents in south Shropshire have low income from jobs in agriculture, retail and manufacturing just as they do in more urban areas. Many people live in rural Shropshire (North, South, East and West) because that is where they work. Why should our children not have the right to be educated locally?
And that’s before you consider the effect that closing a school will have on the rural community.
There are many facilities that residents of towns benefit from that we in rural areas pay for but can only dream of benefiting from. Why don’t we cut your nice little flower beds on your round-a-bouts,theatre, public transport, street lighting, street cleaning, policing of drunken nights out, litter picking, leisure facilities, Festivals, flood defenses, business parks – are they more inportant than education?
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Yet again, another awful mess by the Shropshire Council….the biggest being the sculpture by the Welsh bridge, in honour of Darwin…it has been said that it will attract visitors/tourists…’scare them away’ it is a more likely term.
Other than the reasons (that very correctly Mr Fear has identified) I do not think that most people are aware that the Wakeman school has been used as a ‘dumping’ ground for unruly and inconsiderate children, that have been expelled from various schools. How do you expect a decent school to flourish when it accepts that kind of pupils?..Especially when there is NO relevant and adequate support by the Shropshire Council Education Department.
I have 2 children at that school that are doing exceptionally well and have no problems whatsoever..it is very amusing to hear from some parents and pupils that certain teachers are not good…blame the teachers for the unreasonable behaviour that those kids exhibit…why not….it is a very laughable matter, with some parents and their children. Those kind of parents should accept that their children are lacking discipline and respect and they should do something about it.
Furthermore, the Wakeman School it is situated in a good and easy accessible locality, which it helps when children are traveling via public transport, to and from the school, to most locations from outside Shrewsbury.
Finally, individuals and decision makers should bear in mind that the Wakeman school is a multiculture school. Something that many others schools do not appear to have. This is evident from their large levels of bullying and anti-social behaviour.
I would also like to add this, in relation to Mr Blind’s comment above. Anything that is created to bring in revenue should do just that. The sculpture by the Welsh Bridge it is relevant; it is a waste of tax payers money and it is very unlikely that will pay back by standing there. However, Schools, especially the Wakeman school, overtime it will pay its way by providing many students the necessary skills that they need in order to move into adulthood.
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Even though this does not crucially affect me, as I am in Year 9, and I will be able to finish my education in Wakeman, I’m very annoyed about it all. Wakeman is a great school all round. The education is as good as any other school, we have plenty state of the art equipment. A new media studio has just been built, and pretty much the entire school is being modernised by the day!
Ok, fair enough, some of the other schools like Priory or Meole are bigger and have more pupils, but why is that exactly a bad thing? You learn much more easily in smaller groups and there tends to be fewer interruptions, so that improves all of our education. You also get to become more acquainted with your teachers… I can remember going around both Priory and Meole on their Open evenings, both of which felt… odd. But when I went to Wakeman, I felt much more welcomed there.
An advantage that Wakeman has over any other school in Shrewsbury; is our location. Right next to the River Seven it’s self. A 5 minutes walk to the centre of town, where there are plenty of historic buildings… there are resources all around!
So we are well educated, well located, well equipped… so why the closure? If the school closes, year 8 and bellow will have to move to another school, where they will have to sit VERY full lessons. And to be honest, the government won’t be saving THAT much money, teachers can’t be sacked on money or numbers of pupils bases (which this is) so they will be relocated to another school… so the government won’t be saving money on salaries. The government will have to pay out more money for pupils (for example – paper, equipment etc) so they won’t be gaining much money from that either, so I don’t see that much point!
I think that the government or council need to actually see how the schools are preforming, rather than just firing away the closures as that is really unfair!
So, I don’t see much point on closing a perfectly good school, and I hope that it will not close, and that my younger brother will be able to go there in the future.
Ashley
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Even though this does not crucially affect me, as I am in Year 9, and I will be able to finish my education in Wakeman, I’m very annoyed about it all. Wakeman is a great school all round. The education is as good as any other school, we have plenty state of the art equipment. A new media studio has just been built, and pretty much the entire school is being modernised by the day!
Ok, fair enough, some of the other schools like Priory or Meole are bigger and have more pupils, but why is that exactly a bad thing? You learn much more easily in smaller groups and there tends to be fewer interruptions, so that improves all of our education. You also get to become more acquainted with your teachers… I can remember going around both Priory and Meole on their Open evenings, both of which felt… odd. But when I went to Wakeman, I felt much more welcomed there.
So we are well educated, well located, well equipped… so why the closure? If the school closes, year 8 and bellow will have to move to another school, where they will have to sit VERY full lessons. And to be honest, the government won’t be saving THAT much money either!
I think that the council need to actually look around at schools and see how we are actually performing before closing down a perfectly good school, and I hope that it will not close, and that my younger brother will be able to go there in the future.
Ashley
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well the council are looking for new premises when they sell there new offices for housing so the wakeman school would be ideal as new offices
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i agree that some of these rural primaries should shut but im not so sure about the wakeman thats a really good school, really well located centrally for everyone
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Am I the only one who remembers the Leader of the Council promising that no school would close under his administration. Its nice to see our local politicians are just as fast and lose with their pledges as our national ones.
I also recall our valiant MP saying he was going to crusade with the powers that be to improve the funding that Shropshhire schools receive, which is way below the rest of the country – again he has gone very quiet, perhaps it was too difficult.
Schools with too few pupils are expensive and take money away from the rest of the school budget. This government should understand that rural counties like Shropshire cannot absorb cuts and share services like urban authorities. So schools that are to close should campaign but so should the rest of the schools in Shropshire otherwise next years cuts will see more closures.
I agree, the Wakeman site must be worth money, considering how much we taxpayers have put into new buildings and improvements to stop the basement from flooding – perhaps one of our well known local building firms will pick up a bargain and make a fortune from converting it into flats.
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I think it’s a listed building, does that affect it’s value to a builder?
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Yes, it actually costs a builder more to revovate a listed building and to change use than if the building wasnt listed. It is very costly and time comsuming. The old hospital in Wolverhampton is listed, and despite Tesco buying the site approx 10 years ago, they are still in legal wranglings to try and turn it into a supermarket… they thought it was easy!
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How very sad to read this online(my only means of keeping uptodate with the Star as I work in London, and live in Kent). I attended the Wakeman (then Grammar) School between 1976 and 82, hugely happy memories of an excellent co-education school. Its town centre location makes travel easy and always gave it a very real presence. I hope I might get a visit back to the school(college) soon – even more so before any closure becomes reality. Having such fond memories of class mates gave me a good grounding for my later life. People like Kenny Malcolm, AJ,and great assemblies were “Tim” and “Hovis” would be directed to lead off the exit. What a sad conclusion if this great establishment were to close. I hope, somehow this proposed closure is re thought, students and pupils should be in the heart of the town they live in.
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same old tories
they are loving these cuts
no doubt a new private sector school acadamey will open in shrewsbury soon and they will be happy with that
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That’s sure prime real estate!.
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i could tell the review would come out in favour of rural closures, thats been happening since victorian times and like beeching review of rail and post office closures its just the harsh reality of the free market, but the Wakeman! where did that one come from, its like totally unexpected, ive always thought of it as some top school (by state standards) it seems really nice, the kids are always very well behaved
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surely it would be cheaper if these kids were taught in mcdonalds by some of the young arts graduates who litter our country, there is no need for my taxes to go on this, what is the council thinking only closing so few as this, i demand a rebate, education is a priviledge not a right, we must cut back on the whole education budget massively to help reinvigorate our communities and encourage competition and entrepreneurial activity,
if people want education the market will deliver it, there is a problem with the state in this county, it is too big, cut it back and start with less teachers with their overpaid long holidays
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I think you’ll find that much of the tax you pay is being used to let bankers off the hook for their debt, and to allow the very wealthy to continue to pay far less in proportion to their income in tax than the rest of us do. There’s pleanty of scope in the economy to have reward based upon merit without the excesses we see in the very wealthy. They are every bit as much parasites as the people who fiddle benefits.
There is a tax gap in this country of up to £120bn per annum – if we made wealthy individuals and corporations pay their fair share thre would be no need for these cuts.
And why would the party you foolishly support be allowing the bankers such an easy ride? Could it be because the City of London provide 60% of that party’s funds?
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Why stop with sacking teachers why not get rid of nurses, social workers as well! Oh and housing officers and the 3rd sector too.
Do you realise if you sack vast swaithes of the public sector the governement will have to pay out more in unemployment benefits??
The private sector also works closely with the public sector and relies on it for contracts too.
I hate to think what you would pay your taxes for!
I mean why bother educating the working class at all?? Would you prefer it if everyone who currently earns under £50K just moved away and left the town for the rich to play in.
The Tories are taking a wrecking ball to the economy and the public sector because it is where their hearts lie. Preserve those at the top at all costs. A two tier system for those who went to private scholls with the rest figthing over the scrpas.
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Spelling mistakes due to angry fingers, it should say “schools” and “scraps”.
Pro cuts rallies – ask at the Conservative Club I’m sure they would be delighted to hear of such a concept! In answer to DrT.
Keep Wakeman open at all costs as the population in the catchment area can go up as well as down.
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Conservative Club? Do you really think they’d let little ol’ me in with my Labour Party membership card?
Just because people vote a particular way do not assume that we will all be blindly lead like sheep.
We have a massive fiscal hole and it is down to us all to fill it in regardless of the pain otherwise there will be no future for the children after they’ve been through the schools.
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Closing schools to spend on creating a future for children? What kind of logic is that? Should we make all children sit in one large factory building in each city and resite their times table just in order to cut costs? No – because education is not about getting children from the age of 4 to 16 at the lowest possible expense, it’s about educating individuals.
So educating children in rural communities may cost a little more than in towns and towns more expensive than in large cities. Shall we make every parent and child move to inner London then? Or would you like to have people living in rural communities to produce food for you to eat? Well guess what, if we need people to work in rural areas they need to live there. If they need to live in rural areas then perhaps they should be able to educate their children there?
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Hi, we have read with great interest the proposal for our local infant school (Buntingsdale Infants) to be changed into a primary school under your new restructure proposals. Although I can completely understand the reasoning behind the proposal (too many transitions for service children and young children etc) but I would ask that the council actually identify the rest of the primary age children, who are in the catchment area of Buntingsdale and identify where they in fact go to infant and junior schools. The school does not, as suggested, serves primarily service personnel children.
Your press release suggests that a lot of the children attend Market Drayton Junior school, and whilst that is correct, that those children who do attend Buntingsdale move the Market Drayton Junior in year 3, it is not so for the rest of the children who are under the catchment area of Buntingsdale.
Proper research needs to be undertaken into this issue, since the school site is not adequately sized, placed or staffed for a change and this will actually cost more money than the money which is saved from closing the other schools in other parts of the area.
Furthermore, more children from the Tern hill and Buntingsdale area go to other local primary schools, like Hodnet and Stoke On Tern, so that they do not have to go through a transition at year 3. In total, around 25 extra children (to my knowledge) attend a different primary school to Buntingsdale and Market Drayton juniors, and these are children which I am aware of, who reside in the same area as me, in catchment to Buntingsdale.
In light of the reasons for the closures of the other schools (drop in school numbers etc) I feel that it would be foolish to extend an existing infant school, when other local schools have more than enough places to accommodate children, if Buntingsdale were to be closed and not extended as proposed.
The school is a good selling point to army personnel who are being reposted to Tern Hill, since it is on the barracks site, but what the council is proposing is the opposite of what is needed for the area. Shawbury, for example, has two schools, one which used to be predominately for RAF children and the other which was for local children. The council now recommend to merge theses two schools, so why create another issue, only 8 miles down the road in Tern Hill.
The site does not warrant another primary school being built. Due to the transient nature of the armed forces, transition is one of the unfortunate consequences for children who are from parents in the armed services. However, surely a more logical approach would be to ferry out the children to existing primary schools and not to have to rebuild and extend an infant school, which already has a drop in school numbers.
I have children who have attended Buntingsdale and another local primary school, and feel that the needs of the local area are not being taken into account and that the longivity of the education needs of the children are not being taken into account.
Read more: http://www.shropshirestar.com/education/2011/02/08/134910/#ixzz1DSVQuEKv
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Pro-cuts rally? What a larf. Would get lots of people on that one!
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I’d attend if it highlighted the waste and inefficiency of the bloated public sector.
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I’d go too, perhaps if teachers did a full 48 week duty per year, like Joe Public has to, then we could make these mainly single-use buildings earn their keep,and look how much money people would save on childcare during the usual holiday periods.
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Well Ms Pelling take up the gauntlet and show them how it is done!
Joe Public! Trite tripe.
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I’d rather pay a teacher a reasonable salary for the number of weeks they work (and the current salries are reasonable, not excessive) than pay the ridiculous salaries “earned” by coucil leaders and the many middle-tier managers who provide relatively little value for money.
Teachers educate the next generation of society – the more that we can support them the better.
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That would be good I could pelt you with tomatoes! presumably you would be on your high horse?
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shame, but its got to be done becuase of the government cuts
personally i would have prefered them to cut National goverment more not local government which is the cheapest and most frontline bit!
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But do we really need to make these cuts?
Despite the additional levy imposed yesterday on the greedy bankers who put us in this mess, they are still being very much let off the hook by the new government. Where is the schedule to which they will pay back the money they were lent? Should we not, as the people who bankrolled them, have access to this?
But then again, it became known yesterday too that 60% of the Conservative Party’s funding comes from the City of London (i.e. bankers). Does that help make it clearer what the schools Shropshire is losing are helping pay for?
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If thats the case then surely if the previous government had stopped the bonus’s being paid then they’d have made the Tory party bankrupt and therefore won the last general election.
sounds like rubbish to me mon.
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Spencer,
Heres’ the report from The Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-how-the-city-bankrolls-tory-party-2208668.html
Even the Tory Daily Mail has reported this, and it was headline news yesterday morning on the BBC. The amount of money given to the Tories by ‘the city’ has increased dramatically in recent years – you’re not telling me they’re not buying influence for that…
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I saw the local news on BBC yesterday when they interviewed the headmistress of the Wakeman, she said the school was very unique,so is that a special kind of unique, not the standard variety as defined in the OED?
And people wonder why they’re thinking of closing schools down?
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I saw it too, you couldn’t have dreamed up a worse advert for an establishment.
and for those Wakemanites :-
I saw it to, you couldnt have dreamed up a worserer advert for an establishment.
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My word, things seem to be going from bad to baderer :-)
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I think things will get far worserer before they get betterer….
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I wouldn’t worry about which school your children attend,the bullying is appalling at all of them.
Why do you think the majority of teacher’s children go private?
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Of all the teachers I know, none of them send their children to private schools, bar the ones actually working at a private school themselves.
Bullying happens at private schools just as much, if not more if you count the social hierarchy that is more prevalant there.
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very true , thats why mine go private and not a whiff of bullying unlike the state school they did go to
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This is an insult to teachers. I am a teacher, so too are members of my family and I know many teachers, throughout the UK and overseas. NONE of the teachers I know send their children to private schools, NONE of the doctors or consultants I know (and I know a lot since there are two in my family!) dont send their children to private schools. Just because you pay for the education doesn’t mean you get a better education at private school… afterall we all pay for our childs education through our taxes. I would like to know how many teachers you know who send their children to private schools!
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its easy to see , just note the ones with private plates…i see two from their old school , every parent i have met has been kind and friendly , both my boys enjoy school now and EVERY friend i have who is a teacher says when they have child they will go private , as for a better education …….in a class of 32 to a class of 17……mmmmmm thats all u need to know
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you are generalising. I have private number plates on my car, by choice, and as a member of the teaching profession, my children go to state school. children in public schools doe not have to teach the National Curriculum, which some would say is good and bad. Children in private schools, by my own experience, of friends who went to private school, grow up to be egocentric and not aware of the real world around them…. Take a look at the policitians… enough said!
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i mean the ones i know have a private plates so easy to spot from old school and “not aware of the real world around them” i do not know any who went to private school so can not answer that , all i know is now i have very happy children compared to before
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Those involved in education long enough will remember Towards 2000. This was a programme of restucturing Shropshire education in the 90′s. It was designed to combat the issues now faced. Some of it was challenging, for example the closure of the secondary school in Church Stretton, but all that went through in the end was the reorgnisation of the 3 tier system in South Telford.
The reason it did not go through at the time was political weakness. Time and time again we have seen this – it is strange that few of the schools earmarked for closure last time are on this new list.
It is amusing that federation is now being considered as it was brough up seven years ago as a way of cutting costs but the response was federation was not for shropshire. Although it was in Cumbria, Devon, Cornwall, etc.
Shropshire does need to cut places, it cannot afford to run all the schools. However, it needs to be a fully considered programme of closures – taken away from politicians. For example, could you imagine what it would be like if Church Stretton had closed.
As a former head of Stiperstones I will say that I am sad and fully appreciate the negative impact it will have on a wonderful community. If the council pushes for it I would strongly recommend the community considers having it as a Free School.
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Labour voters wanting pro-cuts rallies? Organise it yourself I say and stop relying on others to do things for you, how lazy!
If my memory serves me well the Bankers got us in this mess NOT public sector workers.
You could wait till hell freezes over before they would donate a penny in extra taxes unless they are forced to do so.
Their threat being if you tax them too much they will all leave….
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I have now been a pupil at wakeman for a term it truly is amazing I had so much bullying at belvidere so the move to wakeman was a life saver. I cried for ages when I found out that it might close. I have autistic traits so I find big schools hard and the Wakeman school has been the best thing that has happened in my life. PLEASE DON’T SHUT WAKEMAN!!!!!!!!
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i cannot understand the logic of closing the wakeman its a good school and so central for everyone, better to close some of the other ones this is most convenient for all people in monkmoor, underdale, coleham, town centre and the new gay meadow housing estate
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Reducing pupil numbers in Shrewsbury = reducing numbers at the school which is least popular (Wakeman)=massive subsidy (£437,000). Therefore close school, redistribute money to other schools to provide better education. Sufficient logic?
PS people in Monkmoor and Underdale would sell their grannies to get into Belvidere, those elsewhere ditto to get into Priory. Wakeman is the school of last resort in Shrewsbury.
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In 1986 they were trying to shut Belvidere and merge it with Wakeman. Things change. One of the reasons for trying to shut Belvidere was of the suspect concrete building materials being used, which strangely enough are still there in the tower. Wakeman is made of bricks and mortar, which is much stronger.
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I moved school several times, didn’t do me any harm, all those people at university have also moved ‘school’, so where is the evidence of damage?
If we throw teddy out of the bed every time something doesn’t go our way we’ll end up with a nation of self-perceived victims and also appear to be unwilling to take on a challenge, so who will employ them?
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If this was facebook I’d give this comment he thumbs up, stop whingeing and face the challenge.
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No, it just made you an intolerant, unsympathetic and, narrow minded instead.
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I see from your grasp of the English language you went to a good school.
Just because a person does not subscribe to a certain point of view it does not make them per se intolerant,unsympathetic or narrow-minded.
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Taking on board Pat’s comments got me thinking.
I have heard so many parents saying that moving schools will ruin their childrens futures, perhaps somebody can answer me this question, if moving schools is so bad, what happens when one or both parents have to move because of their jobs, do they leave little Jemima at her school and force them to do a 6 hr commute each day, or does it not matter then?
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Well said, Terry. I think every adult should fight these proposals if they want, but they owe it to their kids not to tell them their life will be over, they will fail their exams, they will be bullied at an other school, etc. That can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Children are resilient and will absorb changes and get on with life. Push the Council to provide help for transition by all means, but don’t stress out the children!
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It is stupid that the whole problem of transition is why the council want to change an infant school to a primary school, where there are ‘not enough pupils in the local area’ and more than sufficient places in the current primary schools to place both the infant children! To cut schools due to a fall in the birthrate and drop in numbers is one thing, but to extend a school from an infant school, to a primary school, in an area where the exisiting schools have a falling roll will create more problems! The closure of the other primary schools and the Wakeman will pay for the new build which will be required to turn the infant school into a primary school, and then in a further 5 years time we will once again be facing closures as there are too many schools and not enough pupils!
My daughters idea I think is the best… close The Grove, market drayton, only school in the area and has an awful reputation! At least people in Shrewsbury have a choice – we dont!
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I take it you mean Buntingsdale. Funny, I thought the argument was about doing the best for the families of our heroes in the forces (p55 of the report) so that service families don’t have to send their primary age children to more than one school during their posting to Shropshire? Could it be, from your earlier posts) that you are a teacher in, say, Stoke on Tern, worried about your job rather than the families of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan?
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I know of a lot of school children who changed schools due to bullying including one at the high school who moved to Wakeman and was happier there. The results acheived however at the private schools or grant aided schools which are an unfair advantage in the state system in my view, speak for themselves.
The problem I saw when mine were all at school was that some of the children had no intention of working. How that will help or it will help the other more motivated students, making those who don’t want to, stay at school longer, is anyone’s guess.
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I think once again this is like the hospital argument. People in Shropshire are particularly parochial; they expect all services to be in their local area. Some schools have less pupils in the whole school than most schools have in each class. Small is not always best, I went to a very small Shropshire village school and it was terrible, there was not enough variation and you spend six years with the same ten or so people. When you eventually go to secondary school it’s a big shock.
Many village schools have closed in Shropshire over the years it is just not economic to run them. As most parents drive their children to the local school even when the journey is a few hundred yards does it matter where they go to school?
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Seems a very sensible proposal. 2000 less pupils in 3 years time so less need for schools so close some.
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