Under-threat Sneyd Community School has won a stay of execution until 2011.
Education bosses say there is not enough time to shut the Bloxwich school in 2010. News was met with relief by pupils, staff and parents.
More than 200 were at a council scrutiny committee special meeting at the school last night.
Council chiefs were originally asked to decide whether to close the school in 2010 or 2011 but new options before the meeting included downsizing, becoming an academy or merging.
There were jeers for Tony Stainer, managing director at Serco, the firm that runs education in Walsall, as he read out statistics, including projections of future pupil numbers and exam results.
But he ruled out closure within the next two years. “The closure in 2010 is now something which is not on the cards due to the timescale involved.”
Head Dr Sean Sweeney was applauded before outlining his plan for the school and listing statistics which, he said, showed significant improvements.
The scrutiny committee is due to meet again in December, before making recommendations on the school’s future.
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Bloxwich West Conservative councillor Melvyn Pitt said the ruling group he is part of was not pushing for Sneyd to be shut.
So, who is running the show in Walsall. Elected councillors, Council employees or Third Party Contractors? The normal customer/contractor relationship is that the customer tells the contractor what is expected. It does not seem quite like that here. Councillor Pitt is a man of utmost intergrity and would not have made the above statement if it were not true. All he has to do is to deliver on it and, as former Mayor and a former cabinet member surely carries enough clout to deliver.
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The fact that a private company runs education in Walsall seems wrong to me. How can they have the interests of the children at heart when all they want to do is make a profit? Why can’t the council run education?
Sneyd is in a deprived area of Walsall that needs a school like this. Yes, results have been poor, but with Dr Sweeney at the helm they should improve, and I know the teachers work hard and that despite some very challenging children, they keep going. Sneyd’s results WILL improve next year. Sneyd will go from strength to strength.
The original leak to the Express and Star? Seems a coincidence that it was so close to an OFSTED inspection. Was that to unsettle the troops?
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