Bristol Schools: No time to waste
Sorting out the primary school places emergency will be an early priority for Bristol's new Liberal Democrat administration.
Before Tuesday night's council meeting, the party's spokeswoman on children, young people and skills (CYPS) Clare Campion-Smith, right, was already calling for urgent action for the 300 families who have yet to be given a reception place for their children for September.
She said: "The uncertainly about schooling for some of our very young children is causing real distress to families. A really good start to education is essential if we are serious about improving standards. These children are not pawns to be moved around the board. They need a place in a local school."
Mrs Campion-Smith, who is now expected to take on cabinet responsibility for this area, will be talking to officers about the temporary classrooms proposed for up to eight schools as a short-term fix.
She told the Post last night that the best measures must be put in place for the children due to start school in 2009. She said: "Planning for 2010 admissions has to start from now and we will develop a clear strategy for that."
Mrs Campion-Smith will also want to find out more about the medium and longer-term proposals to ensure there are enough places for every four to 11-year-old to be able to walk to his or her local school.
This is all covered by the council's Primary Review, which was mostly agreed last September after months of heated discussion.
The most controversial proposals, to close three schools as part of efforts to reduce surplus places, were only finally decided within the past few weeks.
One primary, St George's C of E on Brandon Hill was reprieved. Plans to close the other two, St Pius X Catholic in Withywood and Stockwood Green, were voted through and it does not look likely that the Lib Dems will reverse that decision, which was reached after an all-party working group reached some compromises.
But another hotly disputed primary school decision, in Ashley Down, could be one of the first and most high-profile reverses.
When the Lib Dems were last in power, they approved plans for a 210-place school on the campus of City of Bristol College at Ashley Down. In January 2008, Labour scrapped this plan, saying schools that took in just 30 pupils a year were not the best model and that expanding Sefton Park infant and junior school to a total of primary 630 places was a better option.
There were also objections from Gloucestershire County Cricket Club, which was concerned about the impact of a school on its ability to stage big matches.
Many parents have fiercely opposed the Sefton Park scheme on the grounds that the site is too cramped for that number of children. They have continued to call for a return to the college site school plan and their campaign has been given impetus by the parents who are waiting for reception class places.
Mrs Campion-Smith said: "Sefton Park is clearly part of the primary places issue and that will be of first importance."
Of course, primary schools are only part of the CYPS agenda. The drive to improve secondary school attainment is well documented and there is also the small matter of the appointment of a new , permanent director for the service following the departure of Heather Tomlinson early this year.
Mrs Campion-Smith said: "Getting the very best director that we can must be a key priority over the next month or two."
The department also covers Bristol's children's social services where, among other issues, two serious case reviews judged inadequate by Ofsted are being looked at again as part of a nationwide focus on such matters in the wake of the Baby P scandal in Haringey.
Mrs Campion-Smith said: "I intend to push the early intervention and prevention strategy as hard as I can because I believe that it matters to the children of Bristol and it is liable to get pushed into the background when budgets get strained and there are external pressures."
"It helps children when they need it and stops problems becoming large, long-term (and expensive). This will not be measurable after four months but it is very important to me."
6 Comments
by Andrew, Ashley Down
Monday, March 02 2009, 1:31AM
“Well said Teresa. The desperately needed school places would be provided sooner and with less disruption to pupils staff & residents if the new school is built at Brunel. Expanding on the cramped Sefton Park site will be very damaging to the future sustainability of the school. It is unreasonable to expect young children to learn amidst the disruption of at least 18 months building & demolition work. All to create a huge school with insufficient outdoor play space. The expansion option will leave a toxic legacy for the future.”
by Teresa, Bishopston
Sunday, March 01 2009, 9:48PM
“Sarah, I understand your anger but plenty of parents with children at Sefton Park have lived in the area for years. I have lived here for over a decade, long before I had any children.
The new school is a not a 'miraculous solution' but a perfectly achievable one that was first proposed ten years ago when the whole development of the Brunel site was first set out. In fact when my first child was born I thought I would be applying to the new school! This new school was a condition for the council agreeing to the 300 new homes being built on the site. Parents at SP are angry at an underhand, unexplained U-turn on building that school by the Labour council in 2007 despite a previous review stating in no uncertain terms that the SP site was too small for expansion. It isn't just SP parents making it up.
A new, purpose built 21st century school with a 46 square foot per child space allocation (nearly twice what SP has right now), with a cohort of parents who care as much as you obviously do, and as much as every other parent I know round here does, seems an attractive option that I would have been happy to take myself if it had been available at the time.
A decision is due to be made next week. You may still end up seeing at first hand next September the crowding situation at SP and why the expansion plan for a FIFTY PERCENT increase in pupil numbers is opposed.
The people you should be angry with are the Labour council who shelved the new school that was supposed to be ready this September, and the cricket ground who openly stated they wanted to continue to use the intended school field for overflow parking and TV crews on big match days, and employed a PR company to lobby politicians who, curiously, dropped the new school plan soon after.”
by sarah, bishopston
Saturday, February 28 2009, 11:20PM
“What really makes me annoyed about the whole issue about children not being allocated any school places this year is the hypocrisy of some of the parents whose children attend Sefton Park school ¿ namely those who oppose the school being expanded.
These people who object to the expansion presumably choose the area because they wanted their children to go to a good school (just like the people whose children didn¿t get in), mostly they are people who were lucky enough to get their first child a place by the ¿skin of their teeth¿ because either they have the money to buy a house within a few hundred metres of the school, or they were very fortunate with the ¿as the crow flies¿ rule, or they lied on their application form¿they then have the audacity to object to other local children attending. They object to temporary classrooms at Sefton Park and propose the building of a new school on the Brunel site as some miraculous solution. Have they ever thought that the parents of the children who didn¿t get offered a place also maybe chose this area because there already existed a school they thought their child would attend ¿ not some unknown quantity of an entirely new school?
These parents should thank their lucky stars their child has got a place at a good school (despite living in some cases as far away as St Werburghs!) and shut up. Stop objecting to the expansion of your precious school and give a little thought to other people who weren¿t quite so lucky.”
by Rachel, Bishopston
Thursday, February 26 2009, 9:34PM
“Hearing Clare's comments in the paper today was very encouraging as she said "these children...need a place in a local school". Fantastic to hear you agree with every parent across the whole of Bistol who hasn't been allocated a place yet. We look forward to watching you fulfilling your own words and walking our children to a local school in September.”
by Lilly, Bishopston
Thursday, February 26 2009, 5:20PM
“Clare's going to need all the support we can give to get past the Cricket Club objections to the new Brunel School. The council has a legal right to the land without any let or hindrance but the Cricket Club supporters will argue vehemently that the future of the club is a higher priority.
Anyone with connections in the House of Lords or Commons - nows the time to get them working.”
by Tired and Stressed, Westbury Park
Thursday, February 26 2009, 9:53AM
“They're saying the right things, let's hope we get some action.
I don't know where my daughter will be going to school this September. I'm already fed up with sleepless nights and anxiety caused by this uncertainty. We need some firm decisions that are then backed up by actions.”