Merging schools??

ells888

My dd's both go to a lovely catholic primary school, it is very close nit and we do most of the fundraising to fund any building works we need as we are voluntary aided. It was reported in the local paper then incidentally we got a letter the day before we broke up for christmas informing us that proposals had been put forward to merge our school with 2 others ( 1 being a senior school), so to have a massive super all faith school for 3 to 17 year olds.... obviously we are not happy with this and have started petitions etc.... Just wondered if anyone has ever had experience with this and does anyone have any ideas that we could do to possibly try and stop this??

Errata

Have you or anyone else talked to your priest about this ? The merger may be something the church is in favour of.

ells888

The local priest has his name on top of the petition list and has the forms at the back of church for the parishioners to sign if they wish... most parents at our school seem against it and obviously the teachers have been asked not to comment, it seems all very underhand with the head and the governers. Im just wondering are we wasting our time trying to fight it?

Errata

What about your priest's boss - and his boss? Have you got your ward councillors on board? What about your MP? Other priests in the area?
Are you talking to your local newspaper and radio? Have you had a demo with lots of kids and placards - telly loves that. Have you written to Ed Balls? Any famous ex-pupils that would join you?
In other words - leave no stone unturned.

Poppy9

Why are you objecting. What is it you are worried about?

iceicebaby

As above ....

No good just objecting........there must be a reason for it

ells888

There is a list of reasons really, i dont want my dd's mixing with 12+ age, they are 4 and 6 and must find school intimidating as it is, i sent my children to that particular school as it has good results and i believe in the catholic ethos, its a very close nit school and everything we do is basically for ourselves as we are voluntary aided.. if we were turned into a superschool the council would have more 'rule' over us, and the children would just become a number, quite a few of the teachers who work there taught me when i went to the same school, i suspect there would be job losses or maybe they would leave?? Basically it all comes down to money??

ells888

## sorry the reason they want us to merge is because of the money, which is what most things boil down to these days ##

Poppy9

Often it's a knee jerk reaction to object to merging or closing schools.

If it's to replace crumbling schools with a modern, built for purpose building I think merging is a good thing. It is a bit disruptive for pupils but at primary level is not critical.

We have had school locally that have merged and there have been the usual objections, petitions etc. Often it's just merging infant & junior schools into a primary but parents take their battle to the press. In practice it makes little difference to the pupils and can provide more continuity for them as they spend such a short time in infants/juniors. The staff are usually more fearful as they think it will mean less teachers/LA and heads but this is usually wel managed and the mergers have been sucessful.

Where there is objection on the grounds of unreasonable travelling this can be of merit as it will increase school run traffic but if it's over 2 miles for under 7 and 3 miles for 7+ then the LEA has to provide free transport upto the age of 16.

Having had a child move from primary to senior school I would have welcomed more continuity so I wouldn't necessarily have been against having a through school. Moving in Y7 can be very stressful for pupils and it can be easier if they already know the school and some teachers and if the teachers know them. There is also the opportunity for more specialised lessons at a younger age in properly equipped classrooms like science, D&T etc. from teachers who have specialised in that subject - unlike at primary where the teacher has to be a jack of all trades.

The downside is that they might not feel they are growing up and moving on, but then age 11 might not be the best age for this.

Poppy9

ells888 wrote: »

There is a list of reasons really, i dont want my dd's mixing with 12+ age, they are 4 and 6 and must find school intimidating as it is, i sent my children to that particular school as it has good results and i believe in the catholic ethos, its a very close nit school and everything we do is basically for ourselves as we are voluntary aided.. if we were turned into a superschool the council would have more 'rule' over us, and the children would just become a number, quite a few of the teachers who work there taught me when i went to the same school, i suspect there would be job losses or maybe they would leave?? Basically it all comes down to money??

The LEA cannot merge a VA religious school with a non VA religious school so I assume that the super school is still VA and the merger is being driven by the diocese as they normally own the school buildings, not the LEA.

VA schools are funded by the LEA the same as state schools aside from Capital work in which the church has to contribute 10% of the cost as they own the building.

The council rule over the school will remain the same if you are 3 small schools or 1 big school. The nat. cir.has to be followed but the Governing body run the business side of all schools. i.e. the budget is allocated based on a formula which is based on pupil numbers so 1 or 3 schools get the same amount per pupil but instead of each individual school having to spend say 20% of the amount it gets per pupil on maintaining 3 buidings, 3 caretakers, 3 secretaries, 3 kitchens etc. they will only have to spend 10% if they only have 1 site to maintain. Hence more of the budget can be spent on the direct costs of educating pupils through more teachers or equipment.

The Catholic ethos should not be lost because it's a bigger school.

chattycathy1674

Not quite the same but I'll share anyway....

There are two Catholic secondary schools in our borough.
Due to declining numbers we were told they are to merge. Fair enough.
The problem we had was the new, proposed site for the merged school......it was totally inapropriate.
The Bishop was all for it. A few priests were also and those that were not had to keep schtum. As far as the Bishop & council were concerned it was a done deal.

Anyway, petitions were raised. People came together to protest etc and eventually we got through! A new site, which is much more suitable, has been found and agreed on.......

So, not the same but similar in ways.
At the end if the day you have to accept what is best for the children concerned.
We accepted we have to merge but not to where they had proposed!
In our case, the Bishop was totally wrong and would not listen. In the end he had to listen.
The church is not always right, no matter how much they may think they are!