Well, what we all suspected from the beginning is now public knowledge. The council want to shut Sunny Bank school. This is made clear in the list of three proposals to go into the public consultation.
What is odd is that there are rumours that local councillors and members of council education committee's knew that Sunny Bank was top of the list many months ago, even before the review began. This, if true, would appear to point to a 'hidden agenda' regarding the closure of the school.
The council have everything to gain from any school closure and the children and parents/carers will be the losers. How can Sunny Bank children being placed in portacabin classrooms at Cranborne school be the best option for the kids? The council talk about environmental gains from closing a school, what about the environment around Cranborne when all of Sunny Bank arrive there as well as the Cranborne children.
There is oviously not enough space at Cranborne, it is a relatively small school with insufficient land to accomodate all the Sunny Bank children, will the council have to buy additional land? If so will this be the land behind Elm Court, the same land the town use for our carnival!
We will continue to fight for the survival of our school!
As a Mum of two Sunnybank pupils I would like to make the point that on receving our letters today stating the three options it was blatantly obvious that these decisions were made some time ago given that a printed brochure accompanying the letter must have been prepared and printed well in advance of these announcements. Further proof that this is a done deal!
Predictable result but totally unbelievable. I hope they bring someone to these public consultations who is accountable and can actually answer our questions. Mr Harris at HCC you were quoted in the WHT as saying we were all taking the first 3 options far too seriously. Well guess what - we were right to because nothing has really changed and the final 3 options still implicate the same schools (apart from moving our children to Cranborne rather than Ladbrooke. Please credit us with some intelligence.
After receiving the news on Friday about the Primary School Reveiw, as a Sunnynamk parent I am extremely angry by the fact that the Council seem to be putting the financial gains above the children's welfare - both Sunnybank and Oakmere will be greatly affected by whatever happens - I do hope the people who have made these decision sleep well at night, because they certainly do not deserve to!!!
Yet again we are the scapegoats that have been discriminated against from the outset! What idiots are running our County Council ? Our children are not going to get treated properly by sticking them in portacabins, it looks as though they are going to be segregated and how temporary is this arrangement supposed to be. If they are putting Portacabins on the school field isn't that going to be damp and restrict the area for exercise? Is there enough room in their school hall for assemblies accommodating our kids, I doubt it! Where do they eat etc. in the portacabins presumably, more room for other children to think of them as the intruders. The traffic will be appalling and as for the insulting comment about paying for transport over two or three miles each way, according to their scale at the bottom, even over by Oakmere isn't as far away as that, so why bother saying it! Also, I bet the parents at Cranborne don't want our children making their classrooms cramped and portacabins on their field or car park! Everyone please book your places at the public consultations quickly. That's another thing, are they restricting the amount of people at the public consultations so that they don't get lambasted too dramatically, if they restrict it to say 100 people at each meeting when there is the capability of holding much more people than that at Sunny Bank. Also Cranborne only have one date for consultation, this doesn't seem fair as they are going to be affected just as badly by this. Perhaps we should get together with their parents about this farce and see what their views are , as we probably won't be able to go to their public consultation. Unbelievable deviousness and incompetence, there have been plenty of late according to the local paper (especially in St. Albans where they made a muck up of the Senior school allocations, with a shortfall of 60 to 65 places and have now had to cram them in other schools supposedly just for this year, as apparently it was a blip!!)). Unsurprising the Lib/Dems got in for the St. Albans area. They are also cutting free transport for faith schools , which the Headmasters say will affect their schools, and how unusual they are not listening. Another disaster waiting to happen.
Cutting class sizes was a key election pledge of the Labour government in 1997. (and lets' face it they've broken most of the others)
Ministers changed the law to make it illegal for five to seven-year-olds to be taught in classes of more than 30 pupils from September 2001.
So I guess that means portakabins at Cranbourne. Unless the local council wants to break the law!
Won't portakabins infringe someones human rights? Either the children being taught in them or the fact they will be obstucting playing areas?
Everything else in this country comes down to someones human rights being violated. Why not our childrens?
I am not a happy bunny at all!!, if I cannot send my child to the school I want i.e. Sunnybank as my first choice, I will not be brought off by moving to Cranbourne and have my son stuck in a portacabin, if my son can not got to the school of my choice - he will not be going to any other school. So there! :
<!--QuoteBegin-ConcernedMum+May 5 2006, 09:12 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (ConcernedMum @ May 5 2006, 09:12 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> As a Mum of two Sunnybank pupils I would like to make the point that on receving our letters today stating the three options it was blatantly obvious that these decisions were made some time ago [/quote:e294fd3b0d]
Longer than you think as well.
I was talking to someone who used to work on such matters.
The decision to shut Sunnybank was taken as long ago as 4 years.
I was also told it was a done deal and it would not be reversed.
This is getting more unbelievable by the day. Surely , that bit of information if we can get the definitive proof from somewhere that this was the case, should be enough to stop the process!
<!--QuoteBegin-Smiler+May 12 2006, 09:35 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>
QUOTE (Smiler @ May 12 2006, 09:35 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-ConcernedMum+May 5 2006, 09:12 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>
QUOTE (ConcernedMum @ May 5 2006, 09:12 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> As a Mum of two Sunnybank pupils I would like to make the point that on receving our letters today stating the three options it was blatantly obvious that these decisions were made some time ago [/quote:d23e49a94b]
Longer than you think as well.
I was talking to someone who used to work on such matters.
The decision to shut Sunnybank was taken as long ago as 4 years.
I was also told it was a done deal and it would not be reversed. [/quote:d23e49a94b]
Won't they come forward and help us save Sunnybank?
Smiler
If you have any details re: you're entry that the desicion to close Sunny Bank School was made 4 years ago please could you go to
http://www.saveoursunnybank.co.uk and email the Working Party with them so that we can take it further.
Thanks