Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
Hope as school on verge of rescue
Friday 19th December 2008, 11:29AM GMT.
Campaigners have won a victory in their battle to save a failing Walsall secondary school from closure.
Five options for the future of Sneyd Community School were laid on the table at a crunch meeting last night.
But two of the proposals – closing the school in 2015 or downsizing the school – are on the verge of being abandoned. A watchdog group made up of councillors, governors, union reps and teachers agreed to strongly recommend that the most unpopular options for Sneyd be withdrawn.
The final decision will sit with Walsall Council’s cabinet in the new year.
Last night’s motion was met with cheers from a 50-strong audience of parents at Walsall Council House.
Dawn Kent, whose son Warren is in Year 11, said: “This is the best result we could have hoped for at this stage. The fight will go on.”
Sneyd pupil Lucy Shepherd, aged 12, was at the meeting with her parents Kevin and Julie. She said: “I am very happy, because I don’t want my school to close.”
The remaining options are establishing a National Challenge Trust with another school; transforming the school into an academy for 11 to 19-year-olds; continuing education at the site as part of another enlarged school; and creating a co-operative trust.
Dr Sean Sweeney, principal at Sneyd, told the meeting that he was most impressed by the Ormiston Trust’s offer of turning the school into an academy.
He said: “We are at a time of crisis. If the school does not improve, it will probably be turned into an academy anyway. The Ormiston Trust is ready to go, if that is the wish, and it is a chance to regenerate the community as well as the school.”
Bob Grainger, of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), remained opposed to the idea of turning Sneyd into an academy, saying it would create an unfair education system.
He said: “Once you create a situation where you have schools that can choose their parents and pupils, you create a two-tier system, and that will impact on neighbouring schools.”
A working party has been set up to consider the remaining options and make a final recommendation to Walsall’s cabinet.
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The joke of Bob Grainger’s comments are that it was made perfectly clear that the proposed Academy through the Ormiston Trust would have a non-selective admissions policy and whose ethos is based along the Every Child Matters Agenda. The Ormiston Trust belive are the DCSF’s preferred option for Academies across the country. They also wish to pump money into the community and their academies are amongst some of the ost improved schools in the country – surely not an awful option for the people in this area?
When he was questioned about his views he would rather vote against an Academy and see his Union’s members out of a job and more importantly kids shipped out across the Borough rather than support the notion of an Academy…..some Union Rep. Thankfully this man does not have a vote to influence this decision….thank god!
Well done to the Scrutiny Committee for their actions, especially Cllr Eileen Pitt – as local people, concerned about the future of our community and where our kid’s school we appreciate your actions at the meeting last night.
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