The Blue Print

Cardiff Council has now decided to propose a 4^thoption for the reorganisation of school places in Whitchurch and once again they ignore the damage they will do to the excellent standards in this part of Cardiff North.

Having been part of a superb local campaign against the three previous options for change, the council is still determined to close one of the primary schools and reduce the size of the high school from a 12 to a 10 form entry, thus removing 60 pupils per year from the school.

The council still doesn’t get it. Whitchurch for both primary and secondary education is popular with pupils and parents, we produce excellent results and the breadth of the curriculum provides opportunities for students in many subject areas. The schools are well subscribed and the problem of surplus places in other parts of the city isn’t one which affects the north of the city.

Whitchurch, along with the north of the city generally is changing. Younger families are moving in and the demand for primary education, even on the council’s own figures, is likely to increase. Culling one primary school demonstrates not only a lack of vision but an ignorance of the standards achieved in this community.

Yet again this is an attack not just on excellence but on parental choice. The message from county hall is that the more successful you are as a school, the more sceptical and unsupportive our council will be. And beware because this issue not only affects the community of Whitchurch but those surrounding areas from where pupils are able to attend the high school at present. Rhiwbina, Birchgrove, Llandaff North and Gabalfa are all within the high school’s catchment area at the moment but if their children can’t attend the school in future where does the council propose to send them?

Cardiff Council is more interested in penalising success and dumbing down our education system instead of raising standards in schools where there are problems.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 at 12:03 pm and is filed under Constituency matters. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.