See the report on the Page link top right.
The adjudicator has not upheld the objection by Sandford Middle to the reorganisation of Purbeck's schools by DCC. The decision document can be read here:
http://www.schoolsadjudicator.gov.uk/decisions_all.cfm?casetype=search&year=0&order=lea
A sad day for our middle schools, which will close in 2012.
If that link doesn't work try this one:
http://www.schoolsadjudicator.gov.uk/decision.cfm
Type Dorset into the LEA box and submit, then scroll to the bottom of the page. Reorganisation of schools...Not Upheld...Nov 2010
Posted by Anonymous to swanageview at 6:49
Saturday, November 27, 2010
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25 comments:
I can't make anything of this; no doubt my incompetence. But could someone perhaps copy and paste the relevant text, and post as a comment (or email to me, and I'll do it: mail(at)mikehadley.net.
Thanks to Mark Woolley for sending a copy of the Report, now viewable as a Page on this site (top right).
The report accepts DCC's arguments in their entirety which is both depressing and unsurprising.
Swanage Middle School will close at the end of the summer term in 2013. This will be a very sad day for the town.
I have a son currently in year 3who will be caught right in the middle of all this upheavel. I genuinely fear for their future education.
Government always protects government. This result was a foregone conclusion from day one.
So be it. Let the spotlight fall on Purbeck School after 2013. Let every parent watch with an eagle eye to see that PS fulfills its promise to create a safe and educationally sound environment for Swanage's children.
Meanwhile, for young families thinking of moving to Swanage:
Don't.
This is the saddest news ever. Coincidently, this evening our children have persuaded us to watch Avatar where the (nasty) humans destroy their earth, the humans then move to another planet and try to destroy the indigenous people. The indigenous people fight back, but there are many lost along the way, and it’s a very sad tale.
I really hope for the sake of the children of Swanage and for the future of education and this community that the review officers, the 7 members of Cabinet and the adjudicator have made the right decision and that the only advantage is to reconcile the unjust way that funding schools provided. It would have been better to treat the root of the problem.
Thanks to all the people that have fought long and hard and have peacefully campaigned to discourage this outcome. Not sure if this is the end of it, as there seems to be so much that is unresolved. ie the lack of funding that will now mean that the first schools will be struggling to expand to primary on a shoe string.
How this reorganisation will save money, we cannot think. John Nash stated that the change would be better that what exists, but to provide the same opportunities for the 9-11 year olds as the Middles do is going to be difficult if not impossible. How can the future primaries compete with what Swanage Middle Schools has offered these children. There is no comparison.
Once againt there seems to be a lack of cohesive thinking. The Purbeck Core Strategy has plans to encourage hundreds of houses to be built,prioritising affordable housing to encourage families and young people. Its aim is to create a sustainable and thriving community. PDC are also encouraging local employment, and vast sums of money have been invested in a new business park at Victoria Avenue. What is the point of all of this?!There seems to be absolutely no point as DCC seem incapable of working in harmony with PDC/Swanage and its communities. DCC continues to work against the opinion of local people.
DCC do not prioritise the nurturing of young children in Swanage. They prioritise filling empty plastic seats and blaming lack of funding on 'the system'.
Unfortunately as a family we will be moving, as we would like our children to attend a school in their community where as parents we can support our children and the school. We are against young children being treated as commuters at such a young age.
If we are not able to move we will home educate.
On the contrary this is a sound decision. Middle schools are on the way out. Two tier rescues years 7 and 8 from their infantilising regime.
Yes, I agree with the last posters comment. As parents we should encourage our children from the age of 11 to leave their childhood behind them and to grow up! They need to get used to a life of communiting away from Purbeck so they just as well start early. There are no jobs here, there is no housing here. Why stay in this dead end place. Why would any families chose to move to this dead end place at all.
I cannot imagine. Why are PDC wasting their time trying to make this place sustainable, when it makes no sense. The only thing that Swanage is good for is for second homes and retirees.
Swanage is gone. We are leaving. So sad.
It is amazing how few are concerned about this.
Swanage sheeples.
The reason so few seem bothered is because so few are affected. Most Swanage residents are retired or second home owners from away who have no kiddies in local schools. They don't really have an interest in what goes on in schools here.
Maybe one day we will read some good news for Swanage about some decision taken by DCC or PDC. It has been a long time.
What's our MP doing about this?
Most people do not have a problem with 11 year olds having a 10 mile bus trip. I can't recall ever hearing that it was a problem for children going to the grammar schools at 11 despite this being twice the distance so why is it a problem for anybody else? In addition a number of Swanage children attend Wareham Middle at 9 and cope with the bus. This really is a great fuss about nothing.
The last time Purbeck had a grammar school, it was located in Swanage.
So is the new school back on the agenda???
Yes and when there was a grammar school 11 year olds traveled to it from as far as Bovington by a mixture of train and bus and they walked up to the school from the station. I don't know why that age group has deteriorated so much since. A mystery.
Parents have been scared into thinking their child will be attacked or worse. It's not the kids' fault.
Let's be positive about the great Primary Schools we'll have in Swanage and campaign now to get a really good Secondary school here too so that the town does not slip into a sad second home hell.
It is ironic that one of the reasons cited by the adjudicator is that the numbers of kids going to the middle school might drop in the future, making it not viable. Fair enough.
But this decision will almost certainly make that prediction come true, as fewer and fewer young families will be attracted to Swanage if the schools post 11 are some considerable distance away.
Let's get going with the free school. Even the adjudicator seemed to think it is a good idea to offer choice now that local options have been taken off the table.
Has the middle school made an official comment about this decision?
The latest Swanage Middle School parents’ newsletter sent out last Monday, 29th November 2010, includes this message from David Pratten , the Head Teacher. Quote:
“The independent schools adjudicator has upheld the proposal by Dorset County Council to re-organize school provision in the Purbeck area from three-tier to two-tier. As a result our school will close in 2013. Obviously we are extremely disappointed by this decision. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the parents and members of the local community who have shown tremendous support throughout the campaign to try and save the school. As a school we remain totally committed to ensuring that pupils continue to make good progress academically, emotionally and socially while we are still open. It is important to us that pupils enjoy their learning and leave Swanage Middle School having had positive and memorable experiences which will stand them in good stead for the next stage of their education.” (end quote)
Writing as a parent with a son currently at Swanage Middle I feel extremely sad that this vastly improved school will be closing. The adjudicator’s report implies that the Middle School experience is more or less irrelevant to Primary School education and Key Stage 2 achievement. I beg to differ with this view and I can’t imagine that my son would have progressed as well as he has had he remained confined to his first school for two years longer. As someone indicated in an earlier posting, turning Swanage’s and Langton’s first schools into effective primary schools is going to be the real challenge ahead – and for differing reasons that goes for all of them. Losing the sole remaining two years of secondary education from Swanage is something that I’ve never supported but is something I’m less concerned about. The fact is Swanage was betrayed 36 years ago when Swanage Grammar and Swanage Secondary Modern were both closed removing three years of secondary schooling from the town – five years if one went on to do A levels.
Location aside (oh if only the Purbeck School had been built in Swanage instead of Wareham in 1974), a new school will surely lag well behind the Purbeck in terms of facilities, curriculum and peer group. Ultimately I am not prepared to subject my children to what I consider to be an idealistic experiment in respect of their secondary education.
Apologies for inadvertently posting the above three times. More internet problems.....
Please feel free to delete the duplication Mr Postman.
Location aside (oh if only the Purbeck School had been built in Swanage instead of Wareham in 1974), a new school will surely lag well behind the Purbeck in terms of facilities, curriculum and peer group. Ultimately I am not prepared to subject my children to what I consider to be an idealistic experiment in respect of their secondary education.
Time will tell. There are so many positives about a local school. It depends on priorities. Some people would like to send their children to a local school that can reap the benefits of partnerships with eg. Swanage Sailing Club, Leeson House, Harrow House, The Purbeck View School, Cothill Trust, Durlston Castle, Burngate, Brenscombe, National Trust. Our children from Swanage will be able to walk or cycle to school, be engaged with their local community. Swanage Middle School is amazing but as a parent of 4 young children I am more than happy for them to be educated at a local Swanage secondary school. I wish Education Swanage a merry Christmas and a postitive New Year. Thanks for bringing some hope back to local parents with young children. Keep up the good work!
I am curious as to how this is all going to actually work out. Being one of the seemingly in some peoples' eyes unwelcome pensioners in the town I do not have any children at school although both our children were educated here and now have children of school or pre-school age so I do have concerns as to their future.
It seems from what I hear that by September 2012 the 4 junior schools are going to have to cater for 25% more pupils and by September 2013, 50%. Are they physically big enough to do this or to expand on their existing sites?
So what is going to happen to the middle school when it closes? Is it going to go the same way as the grammar school over the next 30 years and become an eyesore to people coming into Swanage? Or is there a secret agenda to convert this into the new health centre at Herston (oops - getting into the wrong thread here!)?
I’m not sure of the exact numbers involved but I understand that the four existing first schools in Swanage and Langton - Swanage First, St. Mary’s, St, Mark’s and St. George’s - will all become primary schools as a result of the restructure. At present they cater for five year groups – Reception and years 1 to 4 inc. From September 2012 they will retain year 5 pupils (currently the first year at Swanage Middle School) and from September 2013 year 6 pupils at which point they will become fully fledged primary schools. Swanage First, St. Mary’s and St. George’s will remain at their existing locations, but St. Mark’s will relocate from its confined Bell Street\Jubilee Road location to the Middle School site.
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