Day 125
23rd September 2009
The review of schools across the Purbeck area has today been the focus of St. Georges school in Langton, which hosted their drop-in session this afternoon.The local community turned up to quiz Dorset County Council councillors like Rick Perry, below left, who were at the school to discuss the councils proposals, including their option to close St. Georges first school.
The school has been open for over a century and is at the heart of the Langton village. Although the school currently does not have rural status, it is a school in a rural area, taking pupils from Langton and the surrounding small villages, as well as from Swanage.
People turned up to show their support for the school, including parents, ex-puils, and members of the community who want to ensure that their locality isn't ruined as part of a cost-cutting exercise. The council state that the numbers of school-age children are falling in Purbeck and this is the reason for the review and the threats to our first schools.
I asked Rick Perry how he could be sure that the numbers are indeed falling. I asked if he could tell me the predicted number of children who will start school in 2013, when my son will start in reception class. He explained that he couldn't project the number of pupils in the future.
If this is the case, why are we having to go through the agony of another round of consultation with Dorset County Council, who state that they are listening to the community, and that they won't make any decisions until all the views have been heard, and yet there is a huge feeling of deja vu because this was the same thing we were told at the beginning of the year when the first consultation regarding moving from a three-tier to a two-tier system took place. This resulted in the council deciding to move to two-tier, despite substantive opposition.
Judging by the volume of people who turned up to support the school today, I see a close-knit community who are united against the closure of our first schools.
The school has been open for over a century and is at the heart of the Langton village. Although the school currently does not have rural status, it is a school in a rural area, taking pupils from Langton and the surrounding small villages, as well as from Swanage.
People turned up to show their support for the school, including parents, ex-puils, and members of the community who want to ensure that their locality isn't ruined as part of a cost-cutting exercise. The council state that the numbers of school-age children are falling in Purbeck and this is the reason for the review and the threats to our first schools.I asked Rick Perry how he could be sure that the numbers are indeed falling. I asked if he could tell me the predicted number of children who will start school in 2013, when my son will start in reception class. He explained that he couldn't project the number of pupils in the future.
If this is the case, why are we having to go through the agony of another round of consultation with Dorset County Council, who state that they are listening to the community, and that they won't make any decisions until all the views have been heard, and yet there is a huge feeling of deja vu because this was the same thing we were told at the beginning of the year when the first consultation regarding moving from a three-tier to a two-tier system took place. This resulted in the council deciding to move to two-tier, despite substantive opposition.
Judging by the volume of people who turned up to support the school today, I see a close-knit community who are united against the closure of our first schools.
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