End of the consultation period
15/10/09 21:35
The official consultation period on the proposed closure of Fort Primary School and the transfer of all the children from there to Trinity has now ended. The two parent councils have made submissions to the council and they can be read via the two documents shown on the home page. Many thanks to all the parents who wrote or emailed the Council with their concerns and queries.
With the consultation period over, it is still really important that we continue to apply pressure to our local councillors and let them know that this proposal makes no sense for this area.
Only this week, the council have released the school occupancy rates for 2009 which show that Victoria Primary has a school roll of 129 this year, much higher than the anticipated figure. What does this mean for us?
If we apply the Council's own methodology for estimating Victoria's roll for 2010 the P7s will leave and be replaced by a P1 the same size as this year's. This means that Victoria will have a school roll of 142, an occupancy rate of 98% and would have just 3 spaces available!
If this proposal is approved Trinity will have 439 children, an occupancy rate of 96%, and only 17 spaces available! This means there are only 20 spaces available in an area where the Council predicts 150 spaces will be required in the very near future. These are the council's own figures.
With the consultation period over, it is still really important that we continue to apply pressure to our local councillors and let them know that this proposal makes no sense for this area.
Only this week, the council have released the school occupancy rates for 2009 which show that Victoria Primary has a school roll of 129 this year, much higher than the anticipated figure. What does this mean for us?
If we apply the Council's own methodology for estimating Victoria's roll for 2010 the P7s will leave and be replaced by a P1 the same size as this year's. This means that Victoria will have a school roll of 142, an occupancy rate of 98% and would have just 3 spaces available!
If this proposal is approved Trinity will have 439 children, an occupancy rate of 96%, and only 17 spaces available! This means there are only 20 spaces available in an area where the Council predicts 150 spaces will be required in the very near future. These are the council's own figures.
Clearly this makes no sense and isn't a sensible plan for the long term
Please, keep writing to all our local councillors between now and December and let them know that you oppose this proposal and that it is not in the best interests of the children from Trinity or Fort. The Council's own proposal recognises that this is only a temporary measure and that the population growth in this area means that Fort must reopen in the near future. With potentially only 20 spaces remaining in the area if the proposal is approved the Council are gambling with our children's education.