tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post5003964031515914191..comments2024-03-23T11:27:26.709+00:00Comments on View From The High Peak: Village Schools - Superb or Superfluous?Carah Bodenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11429666157453439321noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-52438746274188416932007-05-15T21:45:00.000+01:002007-05-15T21:45:00.000+01:00you have gone very quiet. hope all is ok.you have gone very quiet. hope all is ok.Elizabeth Musgravehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473705107636868753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-59886509286942277792007-05-15T14:45:00.000+01:002007-05-15T14:45:00.000+01:00Went through the same thing about fourteen years a...Went through the same thing about fourteen years ago - oh, God, am I That old?!!! My eldest was only little then (and like that makes sense!) and our tiny school was marked for closure. We did everything - fund-raising, news programmes, etc, but to no avail. Such a terrible waste xxPipanyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04048984447721169350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-13342340713813526142007-05-14T20:50:00.000+01:002007-05-14T20:50:00.000+01:00I have to say you have had me in both tears and la...I have to say you have had me in both tears and laughter, we cannot let this happen to our school.<BR/><BR/>I chose this school because i wanted my H to be safe and happy which i beleive she is in this small rural school.<BR/><BR/>Everyone mucks in without a thought and ensures that all our children get the best possible start in life.<BR/><BR/>I have watched my H embrace school life with open arms and blossom with the help and dedication of our leader and her excellent staff.<BR/><BR/>I know that she enjoys her time in school and enjoys being with all her new friends, as it is a small school she knows them all and they all interact with each other.<BR/><BR/>This just would not happen at a larger school.<BR/><BR/>I could not think of sending her to a school with 400+ children and class sizes of 30+.<BR/><BR/>It seems these days that we are not expected to suceed and if we dare to, theres always someone who wants to p on our bonfire.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-39550876433563949962007-05-13T17:13:00.000+01:002007-05-13T17:13:00.000+01:00My children went to Chinley School- I shudder to t...My children went to Chinley School- I shudder to think which yours might be.......we lived in the High Peak for years. <BR/>There IS much you can do- the CPRE Council for Protection of Rural England might help. There is a school somewhere where the parents got funding to keep the school open as a private school...the families who couldnt afford fees got grants and the parents did the teaching, so it was just keeping the school building running. Good luck.Grousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14511245766699609786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-80206216816580692942007-05-12T20:11:00.000+01:002007-05-12T20:11:00.000+01:00you are so right about the impact on a community o...you are so right about the impact on a community of a school. when we bought here we were long past having children in primary school but we looked for a village with a school as our nearest civilisation because it means life and growth. fight it as hard as you can. wasn't there a place in cumbria where the parents raised enough to run the school as a private enterprise? sorry cant remember the name but might be on the net.Elizabeth Musgravehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09473705107636868753noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-87720229520259348122007-05-12T15:58:00.000+01:002007-05-12T15:58:00.000+01:00We have one village primary school in the next vil...We have one village primary school in the next village for some 10 villages, all of which have had their schools closed and turned into homes. Both primamy schools that I attended are no more. No one can walk to school anymore can they as they are all about 4/5 miles away. Madness. Keep up the fight.countrymousiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11094876554953194177noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-30510812643044880022007-05-12T04:29:00.000+01:002007-05-12T04:29:00.000+01:00All I can say is that you should base your letter ...All I can say is that you should base your letter on your blog. You make all the points and your are so eloquent. You're in for a fight, but it sounds as though you're up for it.Pondsidehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02407539138546412482noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-38864568743724098112007-05-10T22:37:00.000+01:002007-05-10T22:37:00.000+01:00I can hear what you're saying loud and clear -- th...I can hear what you're saying loud and clear -- the despair and the anger and the pride in your wonderful school. I feel so for you, every child should have what your school offers. It sounds great! I hope you will be able to save the school. It's, as you say, such a heartbeat for the village. It makes me so cross to think that the numbers game might mean its closure especially after it has proved it excellence. Fight, fight, fight it!Edenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09747288067402245802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-40241445063256654042007-05-10T21:21:00.000+01:002007-05-10T21:21:00.000+01:00I am spitting tacks on your behalf. In our old vi...I am spitting tacks on your behalf. In our old village the school closed. The school in our village here closed about ten years ago. and now the remaining primary school (in the next village) is under threat of amalgamation with two other schools. There was an even madder suggestion last year that children from the middle school should be bussed off the moor to Minehead to a school of 2,000!!! Madness, madness. They don't have a clue. Round here a lot of the problem is second homes - no children to send to the schools....so the population is mainly the elderly retired plus the odd weekenders. Aaaghhhhhhhh. So so sorry to hear this is blighting you. jxxExmoorjanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09230395732150659356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-22635093812649409892007-05-10T18:26:00.000+01:002007-05-10T18:26:00.000+01:00can't seem to get my tag on it - that comment is f...can't seem to get my tag on it - that comment is from wifey at www.wifeinthenorth.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-70933955043639755972007-05-10T18:25:00.000+01:002007-05-10T18:25:00.000+01:00Hi, sorry to hear your news.Ok this is what you co...Hi, sorry to hear your news.<BR/>Ok this is what you could do:<BR/>start a local campaign<BR/>enlist parish, district,county councillors. Enlist vicar and priest (if any in vicinity). Same with NFU if it is serving a rural area, they might put in their two pennorth. Get on the phone to your MP, arrange to meet him at his constituency surgery. Get posters up in local shops. Get together petition (put petition forms in local shops. Stand around a market with a clipboard and a worried smile on a Saturday, etc) Present petition to MP. Cal it a grassroots issue. Tell him this is just the start. There is "outrage". Get him to put pressure on the local education authority. You want the local representatives on your side. Find out who is on the committee who will make final decision. target them. Arrange public meeting at school. Send press releases to local papers. Ring up the newsdesks. Same with local TV station. Create as much noise as humanly possible. Picket council buildings with small children and large banners. Take petition to Downing Street, drop off copies at Department for Education and Gordon Brown. Ring Sunday Times education page editor Sian Griffiths and see if she would take an authored piece from you about what a great school it is and the plight it finds itself in. If she won't try same tack with Daily Telegraph and The Guardian education pages. You say it is "earmarked" for closure. That implies it is a recommendation not a hard and fast decision. That gives you some room for manouevre. Is there another small school closeby it could work with/amalgamate with? Is it a church school if so you have more leverage. Maximise noise. Do not go away. Become a total pain in the butt. Stand as an Independent "Keep our schools open" candidate in any council by-election that comes up. (The general election is quite far away but I don't know your timescale - bear that in mind if the MP isn't helpful.)<BR/>All of this requires a huge amount of work of course. You cannot do it alone. You need other parents to feel as strongly as you do. Do they? Are they willing to put time aside to fight it alongside you? Are you willing to jump up and down and make yourself a nuisance. If so, more power to you. Hope that is of some use. <BR/>best wishesUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09098271180221987998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-16139095265426884042007-05-10T17:22:00.000+01:002007-05-10T17:22:00.000+01:00Thanks to all of you above for reading and comment...Thanks to all of you above for reading and commenting so positively on this blog. The fight is just beginning!Carah Bodenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11429666157453439321noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-73986672802567529192007-05-10T09:41:00.000+01:002007-05-10T09:41:00.000+01:00Oh makes my blood boil - how short sighted - and w...Oh makes my blood boil - how short sighted - and why . . . money - surely educating our children is priceless they are after all our future. Discovered yesterday that they are closing down the after school care in our Village. Is it the government's sole intention with all these closure to strangle the life out of all our villages. It does look that way - centralise and control everything.Westerwitch/Headmistresshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08956764463959607416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-49524315346252944382007-05-09T22:19:00.000+01:002007-05-09T22:19:00.000+01:00And we are in the middle of it in Northumberland t...And we are in the middle of it in Northumberland too. Currently we have a three tier system, but 'they' are moving to 2 tiers. I think that sanity may be arriving in places, and it may be two systems. If they remove some of our tiny village schools those tiny mites will have to travel huge distances. As some of you know, I help out a little at our school of about 70 children and the Reception kiddies are absolutley exhausted at the end of the day, without haveing to travel a very long way after school. As it is in the remotest areas, they have to travel quite a long way.<BR/>Yes, yes and yes again, the years 1 to 4 do very well in a small school. When they arrive in the middle school, they may be missing some things, but what they HAVE got is far more important. Fight on if at all possible. We will all be behind you.Withy Brookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00942644634616193902noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-80421899542980154962007-05-09T20:46:00.000+01:002007-05-09T20:46:00.000+01:00I'm so sorry to hear this. A local school so impor...I'm so sorry to hear this. A local school so important, and it's about more than education - schools are the very heart of our communities. We too have a very small village school, and there are constant threats of closure, combining with other schools, etc. etc. It's so sad.LITTLE BROWN DOGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09752176955139690523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-9796125384496093142007-05-09T19:22:00.000+01:002007-05-09T19:22:00.000+01:00This has made me so CROSS. We have a tiny village ...This has made me so CROSS. We have a tiny village school here, we always seem to live with the sword of damocles hanging over us - it shouldn't be like this! I agree with every word you wrote. It is definite? Fight, fight all the way if not (I'm sure you will anyway). We have a 3-tier system here, where the children stay in their tiny village schools until the end of year 4, then they transfer to middle shcools until end of year 8. Suffolk has recently made the decision to move to a 2-tier system, the fate of our tiny schools is now under threat, though they're currently making reassuring noises. Our school has 60 pupils and, like you, it was one of the main reasons we moved here. I believe passionately in the state system but sometimes I just despair. In these small schools they gain in confidence so much, they are nurtured in such a safe, familiar environment, an ideal launching pad for them before they're ready to move on. My son is quite a gentle, sensitive soul and I know he would have gone under in a big, impersonal place - as it is he is so happy and confident. These are tiny children for goodness sake - let them stay in their communities. The small schools website - can't remember the address but google it - has some interesting information. I'll stop ranting now, but keep us informed.Suffolkmumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15123007594112557168noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-37791352412149877022007-05-09T19:18:00.000+01:002007-05-09T19:18:00.000+01:00Totally sympathsise, I do hope you manage to save ...Totally sympathsise, I do hope you manage to save the school. We have lost a couple of schools here, it is devastating to the community. My children's only has 28 pupils, it is an excellent school, the authorities have a lot to answer for. It is awful they don't look at the school and the children, just cost cutting.Posiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12844732200803572416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1197429752310795554.post-13484145670992237062007-05-09T19:04:00.000+01:002007-05-09T19:04:00.000+01:00When I trained as a teacher umphety years ago we v...When I trained as a teacher umphety years ago we visited a village school in sussex with something like 20 kids in all. It was fantastic and we were told how important it was to fight for villaeg school survival!! Are they mad, Ummptyhumph years later and they are still under threat!!<BR/><BR/>ps I was testing cos pipany said she wanted to post a commetn on mine and couldnt..pps |AH Brighton and the lanes adn the dog piss and the charity shops!!Un Peu Loufoquehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09387826515638192265noreply@blogger.com