Page 12 - link magazine

12 The Link Magazine • April 2005
Reorganising West Swindon's primary schools.
How well has the council done so far?
prop
theatre < academy Swindon Council's big consultation with primary school ate parents, convinced of their case, sceptical of the
parents has ended. Meetings have taken place at proposals, some hostile to change, ready to defend
eight of the ten schools in the area, with two general their school at all cost. Other halls have been less full.
meetings in community centres, to get viewpoints on Council officers are now considering written sub-
reorganising school provision to remove up to a missions and the comments from the meetings for a
predicted 700 surplus places. This could include report to the cabinet in late April.
closing two or three schools and their sites sold in The January Link headline asked if the exercise
propel theatre order to generate income to invest in other sites as would set out a vision of the future or if there was a
extended' schools, including rebuilding. disaster in the making. Parent John Doyle from Nine
arts academy Some school halls have been packed with passion- Elms suggests the consultation process is the latter.
offers dance, drama Extended schools are one part of a Government initiative to bring about dramatic changes to the delivery
and singing training for of education, health, social and youth services to children. The Laming Inquiry into the death of Victoria
Climbie highlighted how these departments focus on their own areas of responsibility, ultimately failing
6- 18 year olds. the children they aim to serve and protect. The Government's'5 Year Strategy for Children and Learners'
aims to break down departmental barriers and seeks real commitment to putting children first.
Classes run Saturdays
As well as the 8am to 6pm childcare • a national database of children and encourage campaigns to block
from 12.30pm to provision wrapped around the with social, health, youth and edu- closures. The result: schools and
core teaching hours, we should see: cation professionals all having ac- neighbourhoods being set against
5.30pm at the Even
• foreign language classes avail- cess to the data; each other.
Swindon Community able to children from age 7; • parents having access to their We cannot:
Centre, Rodbourne. • the opportunity for all children children's data; • look at education in West Swin-
to learn musical instruments; • focused case workers for chil- don without referring to the sec-
• access to 2 hours quality PE and dren when needed; ondary schools that serve the area.
For a full prospectus or
school sport per week for all chil- • joined up planning and delivery It's meant to be a continuous serv-
further enquiries please dren; of services from early years, ice from 0 through to 19 not just 4
phone Gemma Pixton on • networks of primaries with through primary school, to sec- to 11;
stronger schools aiding weaker ondary school and beyond - a 0 to • leave parents and prospective
01793 703043 or drop ones; 19 continuum; parents of Tregoze and Peatmoor
in during class hours. • a Children's Service instead of • improved results in the basic schools outside the debate. It's sup-
separate Education and Social subjects taught and better results posed to be a consultation about
Service departments, where the at all Key Stages. education not just about closures;
SPONSORED BY EDP ELECTRONIC focus is on children not the profes- It's a radical change with much • suggest that schools will become
sion working with children; more detail than can be shown community facilities and not dis-
here, but there are real benefits to cuss what will happen to the exist-
children, parents and the wider ing community facilities across
community — without expecting West Swindon;
schools to solve all today's social • blindly accept that removing
problems. empty spaces in classrooms will
Quite how Swindon Council's generate anywhere near the £15
proposal for'Improving Education million that this proposal needs.
Provision in West Swindon' as set House building on the land of
out in its document with this title closed schools might, but we can
fits into this is difficult to tell. only speculate given the lack of
Extended Schools are mentioned openness on this point:
but there is a very clear focus on • consider the closure of perform-
closure and amalgamations. ing schools with good results with-
There is no real vision for educa- out a commitment to improve re-
tion in West Swindon and limited sults right across West Swindon.
information has been made avail- We can say to the Education De-
able. Indeed, there seems to be a partment and Swindon Council:
major blind spot to recognising that go back to the drawing board and
several schools already have many do the task properly. Do audits on
of the features of extended schools. the schools looking at more than
Unfortunately the consultation the numbers on roll. Be honest and
discussions have focused more on open, provide information about
finance rather than on education, costs and evidence that you've
children or how the community as worked across council departments
a whole will benefit in the longer and with other service providers,
term. The only significant data and work out a coherent story.
used to compile the reorganisa- Finally, provide the vision and
tion proposals is the number of leadership that puts the children
pupils on roll. We see mention of in West Swindon first and give the
26 nursery class places in each parents and prospective parents
school and the notion of extra fa- something to believe in.
cilities being made available, but
there is no real substance behind Report Card: Education Department
the ideas. Consultation process D
From the reaction at some meet- Information sharing E
ings there has been just enough Putting children first F
information to stimulate the terri- Providing leadership & vision D
torial suspicions of parents, to
Overall Comment: Could do much better.
strengthen opposition to change