Clare middle school parents hit back at Haverhill Heads

The following letter from four Clare Middle School parents has been printed this week in the Suffolk Free Press.


We would like to respond to the Haverhill headteachers' comments regarding the proposed changes from a three-tier to a two-tier school system and address the case for option three (a Clare rural community college).

Samuel Ward is currently over subscribed but Castle Manor is under subscribed. This leads us to believe that children from Clare will be sent to Castle Manor, taking away the parents option of choosing a school. Published tables show that, as of January, only 15% of pupils at Castle Manor were obtaining GCSE results at grade C or above. Former Clare Middle School pupils at Samuel Ward do exceptionally well when they take GCSEs, with 87% achieving A* to C grades.Why would having three smaller schools as against two large ones have a detrimental effect on our children when the Government is actively pursuing development of smaller schools to improve educational standards? With regards to Clare struggling to provide a full range of services for the 14-19 year olds, we must point out that under options one, two and three neither Samuel Ward, Castle Manor or Clare would be teaching 16-19-year olds, as they would be attending a sixth-form college on a separate site. Options one and two will have a detrimental effect on our children's education and well being long before the changes are complete as the current middle schools will be likely to have teachers looking for other posts now rather than later. Children falling into the Sudbury catchment area will still be attending Clare middle but the school will be running at half the capacity.

Clare Middle School has consistently shown itself to be a good school and the infrastructure is in place to continue this trend into a secondary school. The Clare school site currently provides many opportunities for after-school community activities for both children and adults, including junior (nine-13) and senior (13-18) youth clubs for about 100 children from Clare and surrounding rural areas, yoga classes, circuit training, club meetings and dance classes. As well as offering a summer holiday club for children.

We have been "informed" of the cost implications of changing Clare middle into a secondary school but costings have not been disclosed with regards to the reorganisation of Samuel Ward and Castle Manor Schools. These figures have been requested at a public meeting and are yet to be provided.

During a public meeting at Clare Middle School, Frank Stockley, a member of the review panel, stated that the "ball park figure for redeveloping Clare into a secondary school is £7-9million", this is nowhere near the figure of £18m quoted in letters sent to parents from the Haverhill schools.

Clare is a community in its own right and not part of Haverhill, and closing the school at Clare will take the heart out of our community, resulting in job losses and taking away our freedom of choice of where we want our children to be educated. It will also have an environmental impact by increasing the number of buses taking children to and from school. Making Clare into a secondary school would enable our community to thrive without affecting the community of Haverhill.

Concerned parents
R & S Brown
A & C Boddington
D & S Allen
B & S Eden-Shulver
Highfield and Westfield, Clare, and Cavendish