Decision day for Clare Middle School!

Suffolk County Council will DECIDE the future of education for the children of Clare and surrounding villages at a Cabinet Meeting on

Tuesday 4 March 2008 at 1.30p.m.

This decision will not only affect the future of Clare Middle School and the rural schools which feed into it, but will set the precedent for the future of education across the whole of Suffolk.

This meeting is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. We believe that parents and residents can still influence the decision by attending the meeting and showing the strength of our commitment to Clare Middle School.

It will be held in the Council Offices at:
Endeavour House, 8 Russell Road, Ipswich

For further details contact Georgina Lovejoy on 07989 442651

OUR COMMUNITY – OUR SCHOOL

Letters in this weeks Haverhill Echo

We're losing focus on children's education.....

http://www.haverhillecho.co.uk/letters/We39re-losing-focus-on-children39s.3751505.jp?articlepage=2

Trust status could be the reason for silence on catchment areas......

http://www.haverhillecho.co.uk/letters/Trust-status-could-be-the.3751514.jp

Schools minister Jim Knight says Rural schools order 'hypocritical'

Jim Knight ordered local authorities to protect rural schools
Ministers were accused of hypocrisy when they ordered local councils to keep rural schools open - after backing more closures last month.
Schools minister Jim Knight wrote to local authorities telling them to protect village primaries after a series of media headlines warned that hundreds could be shut down. The letter followed Government guidance last month that suggested councils can "take the opportunity" to close schools with empty places.
Mr Knight said: "Rural schools are central to the life of village communities. Over the last 10 years, we have made it a statutory requirement for councils to presume that rural schools should stay open.
"There is not, and never has been, any policy for closing rural schools. I am writing to local authorities to underline their legal duty to protect popular rural schools."
Guidance issued in December said maintaining surplus school places represents "a poor use of resources".
"The department expects local authorities to make the removal of surplus places a priority in their planning," the guidance said. The document said councils could consider "amalgamation and rationalisation" of primary schools in their area.
"Local authorities may, for example, take the opportunity to reorganise primary provision, close schools with consistently poor performance and/or excessive surplus places and place new buildings under the management of stronger heads," it said.
Liberal Democrat schools spokesman David Laws branded the Government's policy "confused and hypocritical".
"This week, ministers are telling everyone that the closure of smaller schools is not on the Government's agenda," he said.
"But official guidance issued last month tells local authorities to close smaller schools and remove surplus places as a 'priority'. Local authorities are being told that unless they follow the Government's blueprint, which includes closing up to one in 20 schools, they will not get the money for new primary schools."

http://news.aol.co.uk/rural-schools-order-hypocritical/article/20080130115809990007

New plans put 1:10 secondary schools at risk

Thursday January 31, 2008 The Guardian

Ministers order review after figures show almost 800,000 empty places Polly Curtis, education editor

A tenth of secondary schools have a quarter of student places empty
Plans to close a significant number of secondary schools in urban and rural areas are being drawn up because of a sharp fall in pupil numbers, the Guardian has learned. Almost one in 10 secondary schools has more than 25% surplus places, according to official figures.
Ministers have ordered a review of what to do about the increasing number of empty classroom seats in England, as the latest figures suggest there are 792,000 surplus places in schools. Local authorities are devising detailed plans to overhaul their school estates to fit the shifting school-age population.
School closures are proving controversial around the country. In Stoke-on-Trent, Herefordshire and the Isle of Wight, parent-led campaigns are increasing political pressure on the government to keep schools open. Shropshire county council was forced to abandon plans to close 22 primary schools last night after sustained parental protests.
The surplus of places leaves ministers facing the prospect of more school closures. The emotive issue could take on great significance in marginal seats. It is expected that some closures will be announced before the next general election, but the bulk will follow.
The government's figures, published this week, suggest that the decline in the number of primary-aged pupils is stabilising, with the impact beginning to hit secondaries all over the country.
John Dunford, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: "Over the next five years falling [pupil] rolls are sharpest in secondary schools, [these] schools will reduce in size and some will become unviable."
The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has commissioned a review, jointly with the Audit Commission, of how to respond to the falls in pupil numbers. Key lines of inquiry include what savings might be made by removing surplus places and whether a nationally recognised minimum number of pupils should be agreed for secondary schools.
Local authorities are also drawing up plans to rebuild their school estates under the £50bn Building Schools for the Future programme, which will include widespread reorganisations, closures and mergers. "The programme will result in fewer schools," the DCSF said.
Official plans for rebuilding schools in four areas, seen by the Guardian, suggest that under-subscribed and poorer performing schools will be closed. Where there are too few pupils, schools with improving results could also shut.
Dunford said: "Vacant places cost money and there are plenty of other ways that money could be better spent." Closures would reduce options for parents to chose a school for their child, a key government promise, he added.
Tim Byles, chief executive of Partnerships for Schools, which is running the Building Schools programme, said construction projects would "reflect local needs and the reality of pupil numbers and demographic trends".
The plans for secondary schools were revealed after ministers moved to draw a line under the dispute over the closure of small rural primaries yesterday. Jim Knight, the schools minister, is to order councils to protect rural schools, but he was criticised after guidance from his department suggested local authorities should "ensure that no [primary] school has more than 25% surplus places".
Knight said: "We require councils to assess the full impact of closure on rural communities and allow every single parent to have their voice heard - and I am writing to local authorities to underline their legal duty to protect popular rural schools."
The shadow children's secretary, Michael Gove, said: "We know small schools provide an excellent education, so we should be doing everything possible to support them."

http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2249693,00.html