Date: 16th December 209

St Nicholas and All Faiths Schools Saved

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Labour councillors, including Strood North ward councillor Stephen Hubbard, were delighted to hear that the proposed amalgamation of St Nicholas Infant and All Faiths Primary schools has been withdrawn.
The proposal from the Conservative Cabinet, which first surfaced at Easter, had no support from any of the staff, parents or governors, and caused widespread concern.
It was rejected by Overview and Scrutiny, but the Cabinet seemed set to ignore this, only changing its mind at the very last minute.
Cllr Stephen Hubbard said,
“I have already passed on my congratulations to some of the campaigners, and I want to say well done to everyone involved for their hard work and determination to save these schools over the past eight months.”
“I was against the proposals from the beginning.  All Faiths and St Nicholas both do an excellent job, but are very different schools: why they were going to be forced together against their will I just don’t know.  There are four schools, All Faiths, St Nicholas and Gordon Infants & Juniors, in Strood North within a few streets, and to consider making changes to just two of them made no sense. ”
“I hope that now this nonsense is out the way the Council will give every support to all four schools, financial and otherwise, to help them maintain and develop their high standards and good education.”

ENDS