C.L.A.R.E present their official response to Suffolk County Council

To view the document please click the link below and choose the file 'Clare PDP response'

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/ruralclare/files

Last chance to have your say!

Vote Option 3

If you have not already sent in your questionnaire, then please do so by Friday 18th January 2008. The questionnaire is available online at: http://www.suffolk.gov.uk/EducationAndLearning/Schools/SuffolkSchoolOrganisationReview/Haverhill+School+Organisation+Review.htm
Scroll down the page to 'Online questionnaire' and 'click here'. The questionnaire is targeted towards Haverhill town schools so we have put together a fact sheet to help you answer the questions. This can be downloaded at: http://groups.google.co.uk/group/ruralclare/files

All three options are viable but we believe that option 3, two secondary schools in Haverhill and one in Clare, is the best option for the Haverhill school cluster. Option 3 is not only the best option educationally, financially and environmentally, it will support the future growth of both Haverhill and Sudbury town.

Parents excellent response to Haverhill Weekly News letter

Sir,

We are parents of four children aged between 4 months and 6 years living in Clare. We would like to respond to Mr Connor’s thoughtful letter last week and set out why Option 3 will actually be beneficial to Haverhill, as well as to Clare and the surrounding villages.

Mr Connor’s understandable concern is that the creation of a secondary school in Clare will draw pupils and resources from Haverhill “to the detriment of educational opportunities for the majority of Haverhill’s young people”. There are two main reasons why this should not be a worry, in fact quite the reverse.

According to Suffolk County Council’s School Organisation Review consultation document, there are currently 450 pupils leaving the four middle schools covered by the review each year. This is not enough to meet the minimum intake of 180 for three secondary schools, however, the Suffolk County Council School Organisation Plan 2006-11 forecasts that they will be a need for an additional 125 secondary school places before the new schools open. This would allow three viable schools with an intake each of 191. The consultation document itself goes further to forecast a planned population growth of 480 pupils a year.

The issue here is not that three schools are too many, but that two schools will be too few. In ten years time do any of us really want our children lost in two gigantic secondary schools in Haverhill, each with 2,325 children?

This consultation process has been divisive for the communities of Haverhill and Clare, seemingly setting them against each other, but this is wrong. Option 3 doesn’t just give all of our children the opportunity to be educated in optimum sized schools, it will also bring our communities closer together and provide the best educational opportunities and choice for all. The radical changes to education for 14-19 year olds means that schools will have to work together with other education providers and local employers to offer a greater range of vocational and academic courses. Developing Clare Middle School into a Secondary School will provide an additional choice that can complement the Arts & Technology and Business & Enterprise specialism’s in Haverhill. In addition, all pupils will feed into the proposed new educational centre for 16 -19 year olds in Haverhill, which with its emphasis on working in partnership with local employers, will be of great benefit to both Haverhill’s local economy and business community.

We also encourage you to complete the consultation questionnaire. Our hope is that you choose Option 3, and choose to provide the young people of Haverhill, Clare and the surrounding villages with the best opportunity for an excellent education.

Yours faithfully

Phil & Jan Stanbury-Jones
Clare