Date: 25th September 2009

Tories Ignore Ridge Meadow Parents

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tory members of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee again ignored the pleas of parents to reconsider the plan to close Ridge Meadow School.
 
At last night’s meeting, a strong case was put by Head Teacher, Mrs Carol Scott, by Chair of Governors, Peter Cole and by parent Diane Furlong. They all pointed out that the council had made serious mistakes in its reports to members especially when it came to alternative places for parents to send their children and the failure to look at alternative options in dealing with surplus school places on the Wayfield estate.
 
Cllr Bill Esterson, Labour Group spokesman on Children's Services said,
“The council has its facts wrong. Yes there are surplus school places in Wayfield but this affects both Ridge Meadow and Wayfield School. The council has only looked at one option – closing Ridge Meadow. There has been no proper evaluation of other options including amalgamation of Wayfield and Ridge Meadow or reducing the Pupil Admission Numbers across the two schools. The governors at Ridge Meadow suggested creating a new school with fewer places. This would have dealt with the surplus places issue while retaining the popular elements of Ridge Meadow but this proposal has been ignored by the Tories who appear not to care about the people of Wayfield".
 
The Tories have not looked at what parents and children want. Already more than 30 parents have taken their children to other schools because of the proposed closure, and other local schools do not have places for the Ridge Meadow children.

Parent, Diane Furlong said,
“I have tried to place my three children together and to date I have not found any local school within walking distance that could take all three. I have been offered a school 3 miles away but this goes against everything I believe in as I love to walk to school and don’t want to rely on a car. Year one classes in all the schools I contacted were full. There clearly seems to be a lack of infant places available, and parents with more than one child across different year groups have no options. I believe the council have made the wrong decision and parents' needs for their children have been clearly ignored.”
 
Labour Cllr Bill Esterson said,
“The council tried to close Ridge Meadow a few years ago and the school had been recovering steadily from the blight of that attempt. It appears that the Tories were determined to get Ridge Meadow and its valuable land. As for the cabinet members who made the original decision, not one bothered to attend last night’s meeting to hear the debate. Last night’s decision proves that when it comes to Ridge Meadow, the Tories' consultation really was a sham and they never had any intention of doing anything other than closing the school."
"Thousands of people wrote to object to the proposals, yet the Tories ignored the views of teachers, parents and children and tried to blame the government. The decision not to close St Peter’s and to take another look at St John’s shows that the decisions are a matter for the council not the government. This fight will continue and the way that the local community has been ignored will be used as the basis for legal challenges I am sure.”

ENDS

For further comment please contact Cllr Bill Esterson on 07976 628730.  Alternatively contact the Group office on 01634 332393.