On 20 Jul 2016 at 8:05am Castle Gate wrote:
This has been published on the ESCC website. These are draft minutes of yesterday's Cabinet meeting, and it is possible that paragraph 14.4 has been worded in an unclear manner. Does the full council believe, or not believe, that children will obtain a better education (sorry, "outcomes") at other schools?
14.1 The Cabinet considered a report by the Director of Children’s Services.
14.2 It was RESOLVED to approve the publication of statutory notices to close Pells CE Primary School by 31 August 2017.
Reason
14.3 Parents, pupils, staff, the Governing Body and the local community are generally against the proposed closure of the school, although a small number of respondents understand the reasons for the Council proposing closure.
14.4 At Full Council it was resolved that the process for closure be halted while emerging plans are put in place. The Council remains very concerned about this vulnerable school and does not believe that a viable option to closure has been presented and that children will achieve better outcomes if they attend other schools.
On 20 Jul 2016 at 9:04am Lewes man wrote:
It not about the chillern it's about selling the land for housing money money money
On 20 Jul 2016 at 10:07am Money money money wrote:
In all seriousness though given the amount the council tax is in Lewes and the number of schools, the more money pits they can close the better.
Sorry if it offends anyway with children there, but something has to give at some point (£1,700 is too much)...
On 20 Jul 2016 at 10:19am Bono wrote:
Seeing as there are only like 40 kids in the entire school with only around 4 teachers seems crazy not to close it. Get rid! Better houses than a school makes sense
On 20 Jul 2016 at 1:11pm GoM wrote:
Just rejoice and be thankful it's not Poll Tax.
On 20 Jul 2016 at 5:05pm K wrote:
I for one is sad that this school is closing not only for my child but for the 64 others in that school and there parents ! I would like to know where you going to put our children now that there is no cappictys in other schools for them to go . Splitting them up from really good friendships and ones that need extra help are they going to get the help they need when they hit over the amount of children aloud in a classroom !!
On 20 Jul 2016 at 5:11pm GB wrote:
Sergey, have we a translator?
On 20 Jul 2016 at 9:09pm The translator wrote:
i got nothing...
On 20 Jul 2016 at 9:28pm Metatron wrote:
@GB condescending Tw@t.
Do you need to be so pedantic?
K has a realistic fear, the children will be spread over all the schools in Lewes which means that siblings my not be at the same school. The results could be a nightmare with families having to get children to several different schools.
On 20 Jul 2016 at 10:37pm Local wrote:
"Nightmare". Discuss...
On 21 Jul 2016 at 8:59am huw wrote:
Thankfully the DIstrict Council have calculated that in the next few years the existing schools will be able to accommodate more children than their existing capacity allows and that following the development of the Phoenix estate and other building projects there will be fewer school age children in town. I don't know how they have worked this out but if anyone else could help with the number crunching I'd be grateful.
On 21 Jul 2016 at 10:00am John Stockdale wrote:
I was at the ESCC Cabinet meeting that made this decision. It was not primarily about money. School places at small schools are more expensive, but the cost of closure is very considerable. The site belongs to the Church, so any capital receipt does not go to the Council – and it is in any case ring fenced for reinvestment in schooling. The risk the Council was taking was that the result of the forthcoming Ofsted inspection would again be ‘Requires Improvement’ It’s three RIs and you’re forced into academisation – but no one wants to take on a small school with an RI. I think the Council was unwise to make this assumption without giving Pells the chance to show it has improved. Local authorities lose out with every school that becomes an academy as they are exempt from business rates and academies are currently suffering a rash of failures locally.
It was also extremely unwise of the Tory administration to ignore the democratic vote of the full Council to defer a decision on both Pells and Piddinghoe. The Lib Dem Leader delivered an explicit warning to the Tories that they were a minority administration and that all the non-Tory councillors had voted against them. I hope he now has the bottle to challenge the Leader and that he can count on the support of UKIP and the Independents including Ruth to replace Cllr Glazier and the Tory Cabinet.
On 21 Jul 2016 at 2:23pm Ghost of Maggie wrote:
How very dare you challenge us Tories.
On 21 Jul 2016 at 3:13pm 80's kid wrote:
Where's our f****** milk?
On 21 Jul 2016 at 3:41pm 70's kid wrote:
Pfft get off our band wagon you pesky 80's kids, we were the ones that had our milk stolen not you!!!
On 21 Jul 2016 at 5:05pm 80's kid wrote:
How do you work that out? All decades since the Milk Snatcher did the dirty deed could legitimately ask that question
On 21 Jul 2016 at 7:22pm Fairmeadow wrote:
Good to know that there will be plenty of places in other Lewes schools for the children currently attending Pells and those in the 1,000 new houses Lewes can expect by 2020. Does anyone think ESCC Cabinet is dim enough to actually believe that? But short-termism prevails yet again, and the new houses will be built whether or not there is infrastructure to support them.
On 21 Jul 2016 at 7:25pm D wrote:
Increase other class sizes in Lewes by 2 and you will find places for all. Then before you know it they creep up again and its the norm to have 35 in a class.
Don't worry though Lewes is pricing itself out of the family market so class sizes may just fall
On 21 Jul 2016 at 7:26pm Jester wrote:
Who said there were to be houses? The plot may become an apartment development where the prices are high enough to attract business couple dfls?
On 21 Jul 2016 at 9:48pm Parent wrote:
I know lots of people from Landport who have posted the "save Pells" petition on Facebook but chose to send their kids to other schools. The bottom line is that most people don't want to send their children there. There's no point running a half empty school, much better to invest in the ones that people actually want to use.
On 22 Jul 2016 at 10:53am Bottom Line wrote:
The bottom line is Pells school being open or closed would make no difference if 1,000 new homes were built by 2020.
So I really don't see the point of mentioning that...
The place was half empty and failing, close it and spend the money at a school that's not failing.
On 23 Jul 2016 at 9:25am Rookie wrote:
Mr Turner must be turning in his grave. Its demise is very sad. When he was there it was the best school in town.