Archived decisions

Appendix 1

Consultation meeting with Shepherds Spring Infant School and Shepherds Spring Junior School joint staff and governors

Date: 06 March 2006

Time: 4.00 - 6.00 pm

Venue: Shepherds Spring Junior School

The meeting was attended by:

Mrs Trisha Cook - Headteacher, Shepherds Spring Infant School;

Ms Joyce Johnson - Headteacher, Shepherds Spring Junior School;

Peter Colenutt - Assistant Education Officer (School Review);

Alex Munro - Education Officer (Admissions & Special Projects);

36 members of staff and governors.

Issues raised:

· The issue of surplus places is accepted. Would it not be more sensible to build one new school to serve the East Anton development, with the rest of the children filling surplus places in the existing schools?

· Has a decision been taken as to where the proposed Children's Centres will be located and are they part of this review?

· If only one school is built at East Anton, there will not be any surplus places in existing schools.

· How can the local authority be certain of the number of children that will be generated from the new development?

· New schools are proposed for the East Anton community - what about us?

· How can you be confident about the forecast figures? Andover is unique.

· A large sum of money has been spent refurbishing Shepherds Spring Junior School - how can closure now be proposed?

· The forecast numbers to 2010 take into account children yet to be born!

· A graph was handed out by the headteacher of Shepherds Spring Infant School illustrating the fluctuation in their numbers.

· The proposal of closure has had an impact on the current school numbers.

· Councillor Kirk has a vested interest in seeing new schools at East Anton as the local Member of Test Valley Borough Council.

· Does Councillor Kirk make the final decision on the future of school provision, as has been reported in the local press?

· Why are certain schools in Andover allowed to take over their published admission numbers?

· Why have schools on the other side of Andover town been expanded?

· Has the option of amalgamation of the two schools been considered?

· The planned meeting for 22 March with Councillor Kirk does not allow enough time.

· Excellent work is undertaken by both schools.

· It would be helpful if Councillor Kirk had visited the schools prior to his decision day on 19 January.

· When will the report for the July committee become public?

· Should the decision be taken to close a school, what will happen to the children who do not want to attend the other school proposed?

· If a school were to close, would the closure be phased and how would children be allocated to other school?

· The view was expressed that the education of children at Shepherds Spring is far better than elsewhere.

· Could the Cabinet decision day of 24 July be changed, bearing in mind that it was the last day of the summer term?

· It was pointed out that Shepherds Spring, Knights Enham and Roman Way serve distinct communities. If a school is closed this will be a major loss to that individual community.

· The County Council's Aim 4 of the Corporate Strategy (building strong and safe communities) would not be achieved by these proposals

· Can one of the schools proposed for closure not be relocated to the new development?

· Concerns were expressed about the safety of the footbridge that is considered dangerous, particularly in the wet.

· If children are transferred to Knights Enham, there will be major issues in respect of parent parking outside the school.

· The Andover estates are split with disturbances between the communities. Shepherds Spring children will not go to Knights Enham.

· Some families will not be able to travel to Knights Enham.

· The children being generated from East Anton should be part of the Shepherds Spring community.

· A number of young couples are leaving parenthood late - what will happen if they all have children - numbers will increase.

· The headteachers of all four schools have expressed concern that, if schools were amalgamated, the tensions between the two communities would be replicated in the playground.

· Small class sizes are promised by the government - that's what we have. Why change it?

· It would appear that there is an underlying long term plan and local communities are not being told the full picture. Decisions will be based on economics, rather than people.

· The new housing at East Anton may draw people from established areas within Andover.

· The consultation should involve the wider community.

· The availability of funds from the developers should not determine the policy for new schools.

· One school at East Anton was acceptable but any remaining money should be used for the wider community.

· All staff at the school were special and had skills which could not be easily replaced.