Schools: The 'final decisions'

The report, unveiled by education chiefs today, has set the cost of changing the current three-tier system at almost £155 million.

As exclusively revealed in the Telegraph & Argus two weeks ago Stocks Lane First School, Horton Bank Top First, All Saints' CE First (Bradford), Lilycroft First and Hill Top First have all been withdrawn from the original programme of closures.

Ashlands First School, Russell Hall First and Utley First have also won a reprieve following one of the Council's most extensive consultations ever.

The U-turn means All Saints' will now become a Church of England Voluntary Controlled primary, the new Utley primary will be built from scratch and Horton Bank Top will take over the existing Mandale Middle School site.

However, the Council's decision to back-track on its initial list of closures is at the expense of other schools which had believed they were safe.

While teachers and parents at reprieved schools were celebrating others who have lost out in the shake-up are staging emergency meetings.

The final proposals include five new outright closures: Eccleshill Upper, Woodend Middle, Delph Hill Middle, Shipley CE First School and Undercliffe First.

Five others - Burley Middle School, Hainsworth Moor Middle, Mandale Middle, Ryan Middle and Scotsman Middle - will become sites for relocated primaries.

Delph Hill Middle School staff and parents had thought they were safe but because only one school is required for the Common Road area of Low Moor, Delph Hill will go instead of Hill Top CE First.

The revised plans will see Eccleshill Upper School and Woodend Middle shut down to make way for a new secondary 1,200 pupil Church of England secondary school at the Cote Farm site in Thackley.

But there was good news for Feversham Girls. The 60-pupil Muslim school will become a voluntary aided secondary and move to an empty school in Undercliffe.

The Keighley area will also benefit from a new school with the establishment of a secondary school on the existing Parkside Middle School site in Cullingworth - originally due to be taken over by Cullingworth First School as a primary. The new school will cater for 900 pupils as well as post-16 provision.

There will be a total of 59 amendments to the original proposals although for the majority of schools it will only involve a reduction in pupils numbers. Other, such as Bradford Moor First School, Buttershaw First School and Larchmont First School, will ditch plans for expansion and remain on their current sites.

Bradford Council's education committee chairman, Councillor Flood, today said the final list of proposals were a springboard for the revival and regeneration of the whole district.

Overall, the proposed new pattern for schools will result in six nursery schools, including one early excellence centre, 13 special schools, 156 primary schools and 29 secondary schools.

The plans, which aim to remove all 500 temporary classrooms from the district's schools and provide playing fields and specialist facilities for primary schools, will see the closure of 78 schools.

The Council made it clear from the outset that consultation with parents, governors and teachers would result in amendments being made to the original list, but no-one expected the list of closures to involve new schools.

Councillor Flood said the review team had made every effort to reflect the concerns of local communities.

Councillor David Ward, the Liberal Democrat's spokesman for education, welcomed some of the changes. But he added the decision to place new schools on the list of closures left them without a chance to mount a campaign.

He said: "In some ways it was almost an advantage for some schools to be threatened with closure in the original proposals because at least it gave them a chance to organise a campaign.

"The tragedy now is that there are some schools faced with closure who have not had the benefit of the eight week consultation period."

Councillor Flood said although it was inevitable a minority of people would be unhappy with the changes, overall there was "a high degree of support" for the radical steps.

He said: "We have consulted widely and deeply about these changes and I am grateful to everyone involved for the effort they have put in to make the process fair and genuinely representative of people's views.

"Where it has been possible and sensible we have altered proposals and made every effort to reflect the concerns of local communities and the parents, teacher and governors affected.

"The changes will bring Bradford in line with the rest of the country and help us achieve our only goal - the systematic raising of educational standards right across the district.

"These proposals will set firm foundations for our children's education into the next century. It has not been an easy process, but there is a wide consensus that no change is no option."

During the consultation process the school review team received more than 2,000 written representations and 37 petitions. A number of the schools which have been saved from closure - such as Stocks Lane First and Horton Bank Top - also took part in a series of protests outside City Hall.

The end of the consultation process means parents and teachers can no longer make individual objections to the plans, although they will be able to voice their concerns through a Councillor or school governor.

Director of education Diana Cavanagh today gave a firm guarantee to teaching staff that there would be no compulsory job redundancies as a result of the shake-up.

She said: "There might be voluntary redundancies and some teachers may opt for early retirement, but there will be no compulsory redundancies."

Leader of the Council's Conservative Group Councillor Margaret Eaton claimed the consultation had not been on the basis of looking at the views of parents and teachers. "I believe it was based on the factional fighting within the Labour Group.

"It was not what we were promised and not what Bradford needs. Many people are going to feel betrayed."

She said there was not time to do the major shake-up within the timescale and many important issues were not resolved.

"These include finance, teacher jobs, and whether children would continue in middle schools or transfer."

A spokesman for Eccleshill Upper School said: "The Governors are to hold an emergency meeting tonight to consider the implications of the Review Team's decision to close Eccleshill School and not to continue secondary education on the Eccleshill site. The focus of their consideration will continue to be that of providing the students in their care with the best possible education and ensuring its continuity through the transition."

Elated staff at Russell Hall First School today broke the news to 220 youngsters that the vigorous fight to save their school has succeeded in forcing a council U-turn.

Youngsters were given the news by Russell the Bear in a specially organised assembly. The council had recommended the school for closure, but it will now stay put and grow from a First school to a Primary school.

Head teacher Michael Ford said: "This has shown us we are loved by the local community, which gave us the energy to carry on. We are now ready to go forward and become a primary school with the support and involvement of people around us."

Stanley McGlen, vice chair of governors at Woodend Middle School, said: "I think the council have totally ignored the needs of Shipley East. It's a deprived area - we have lost the old people's home and now we're about to loose the school. I'm bitterly disappointed with this decision."

Campaigner Elvira Grisag, who has two children at Bolton Woods First School, said parents there were bitterly disappointed to learn today that it had not won a reprieve.

"It's very sad because the parents and staff have all worked very hard to try to convince the review team that we had a good case to stay open," she said.

Mrs Grisag, of Highfield Road, Frizinghall, whose children Christian, eight, and Celeste, six, are both pupils at the Bolton Woods First, said parents had been optimistic .

The final recommendations will go to the education committee on June 23 and the Council on July 14. If approved by the Department for Education the changes will begin in September 1999 and the whole transition will be complete by September 2001.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.