The Dale and Peacefield proposed closure

[heather]

isn't it strange that peacefield has a field adjoining the ridge collage on buxton lane and there has been talk for a long time about one of the collages   :-Closing. maybe the answer to the question where is the money coming from is answered there. it is one big piece of land when looked at as a whole.   

[Dave]

so they have estimated building cost's for  rose hill primary at 7.2 million.where is this money going to come from. some 1.4 million from the sale of the buildings at the dale site ( which the council have said are old buildings and in need of repair ). my question is
1. where is the rest of the extention cost for rose hill going to come from.

The 1.4 million for the Dale is for the land, which will presumably be used for new housing.   The existing school buildings will no doubt be demolished.   

The remainder of the capital funding, we are told, is to come from the government - perhaps via its PFI scheme, 'Building Schools for the Future'?

[LittleBiker]

so they have estimated building cost's for  rose hill primary at 7.2 million.where is this money going to come from. some 1.4 million from the sale of the buildings at the dale site ( which the council have said are old buildings and in need of repair ). my question is
1. where is the rest of the extention cost for rose hill going to come from.
the tax payer ?
or do they have something up their sleeves.
 IE selling peacefield off (as it was mentioned it is up for closure )and replacing it with what....because no-one has mentioned what they are going to do with peacefield or the land it sits on.

[computerdad]

There is now an online petition at

     http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/savethedale/

Which reads

     We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to stop the
     proposal to close The Dale and Peacefield Schools in Marple,
     Stockport and create a "Super School"  by expanding Rose Hill
     Primary School

     We believe that the proposal to close the Dale and Peacefield
     Primary Schools and to expand Rose Hill Primary School into a
     'super school' is not the answer to surplus primary places in
     Marple. We believe that this proposal can only have a
     detrimental impact on the education of our children, the local
     residents to the three schools and on parental choice of where
     and what type of school to send their children to. An action
     group has been formed to propose alternative plans. All three
     schools provide excellent education and are not failing. We
     believe the alternatives should be given proper consideration
     and that the Stockport MBC proposal is not in the best
     interests of the children parents or residents of Marple.

If you agree with this please follow the link and sign !

[wolfman]

Stockport Council's Executive has approved proposals to start the formal consultation process in September to expand Rose Hill Primary School in Marple with a brand new school building.
 
 
 
The Executive was informed that the number of surplus places at nearby Peacefield and The Dale Primary Schools are expected to rise considerably by 2012 (53.7% and 36.9% respectively).

The closure of the two schools has been proposed in order to meet Government requirements, around schools with more than 25% surplus places and because of the poor condition of the buildings.

The Council is applying for government funding to create a new 2.5 form entry school on the Rose Hill Primary School site on Elmfield Drive. This new school building would replace the existing three schools, each of which are over 40 years old and in poor condition. The new building would reflect current thinking on green sustainable approaches, and offer the flexible learning spaces of contemporary designs.

In the consultation process, which begins early in September, the Council will be seeking the views of a wide range of people and groups including teachers and other school staff, children, families of pupils, governors, other schools which may be affected, trade unions, diocesan authorities, MPs, local councillors, and neighbouring local authorities.

Councillor Mark Weldon, Executive Member for Children and Young People, said: "Multi-million pound government funding could be allocated to Stockport once the Council has agreed a plan of priorities with the government. One priority is to reduce the number of surplus places caused by a fall in the birth rate. Another priority is to make long-term improvements to schools to ensure they provide the best possible learning facilities for children and communities for the next 50 years.

"We are not able to sustain the current number of primary schools. This is why we are currently working very closely in several areas to discuss a range of options for the future of some schools. The Executive agreed that the formal consultation process will begin in the north Marple area in the autumn."

 
taken from Stockport.gov website author unknown.

[Dave]

Alongside the important issues of size, which other posters have raised (isn't 500+ too big for a primary school?), there's also the issue of choice.

This government goes on and on about choice - parental choice, patient choice etc.   The way things are going, we'll be offered a choice of fire crew next time the chip pan catches fire.

However, if this proposal goes through, there will be only two primary schools left in Marple (I'm not counting Marple Bridge, Mellor or High Lane).  Not so long ago there were five.  So while our government tells us about all the wonderful choice we have, it's actually being taken away.

[Dave]

The promise of a £7.5m rebuild is very attractive -  but why is this money only available on closing multiple schools?

I believe the Dale site is to be sold for housing, with a price tag of £1.4 million, which is going towards part of the cost of the new build.  If all three sites were kept going, presumably this money would not be available.

Our kids certainly deserve better school buildings than many of them have at the moment.

[rpreece]

One of the great strengths of Marple is the fact that the primary schools are small. This allows a great deal of personal attention to be given to every child. It means that the head teacher knows each child personally and is able to interact with them directly. This type of education is particularly important for the high risk children who run the risk of dropping out of the school system.

Given the fall in numbers in Marple as a whole - there is a good argument for closing one school, but to close two would be a great loss to the community. Schools dont just provide resources to children - they also serve to link parents and families together. They provide venues for clubs and other activities. This provision of social capital is hard to put a value on, but could be significantly reduced in creating a very large 500-550 pupil school.

I wondered if the council have considered leaving three schools in Marple all with one form entry. This would meet all the projected capacity needs based on the estimated head count and ensure that there was sufficient critical mass to be able to provide the necessary specialist resources needed.

If there are further economies of scale - could not the schools share some specialist resources between them in some form of federation?

The promise of a £7.5m rebuild is very attractive -  but why is this money only available on closing multiple schools?

I hope to hear from the council what options they have considered in addition to the one proposed.

RP

[andy+kirsty]

Let my play the devils avocado for a minute,

I was a student at the Dale, I lived with my parents on Claremont, my friend lived three doors up, he went to Rosehill. We both got fantastic educations, I'm not sure howmany of the teachers are still there now but I'm sure the quality of staff across all sites are comparable and very good.

Whilst change for some can be a daunting prospect for others it is a great opportunity, and in an area such as education it is very important to move forward. I feel for the teachers, I work in education and have been shortlisted for redundancy because of restructures a couple of times, there is nothing you can do about it!

The fact which stands is that due to falling birth rates there are fewer children and so we do not need as many schools, Marple does seem to have a massive number of schools per head of population,  don't forget that it happened to Doodfield a couple of years ago so it is nothing new. - the lowest yeargroup so far is progressing into year 10, so sixthforms will get hit in 2 years time and the restructure will start all over again!

schools are businesses, its a sad fact, there is only so far local councils and central government can go to support them, but if there is a chance for better facilities I think that it will be great news for the pupils. My mother works at one of the largest primary in stockport - Didsbury Rd in Heaton Mersey with well over 500 pupils, and the community it has surrounding it is second to none, all of the parents in a two mile radius know one and other and so do the children, it has brought many different religions, backgrounds and races together.

Whilst I think it is commendable that parents want to support their local school have they stopped to think what they, the community and future generations could be gaining from merging the schools?

Andy

[computerdad]

For information

The dale forum site is now www.SaveTheDale.co.uk

There is a public meeting at the Bradshaw building at Marple Hall school with representatives from the Council on Tuesday 22nd July ( tomorrow at 6pm

There is an interview with Bev Owen press secretary Dale PTA on Pure FM 107.8FM at 11.30 and 16.30 tomorrow

[computerdad]

Please do visit the dedicated site/ forum at

http://thedaleprimary.proboards103.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1&page=1

This is open to anyone affected not just parents from the dale. It has been up just over a day and has already had nearly 200 hits and 18 posts.

ps I have no direct connection with the site !!

[computerdad]

Thanks Dave,

I agree some sort of action is inevitable. If you look at the documents on the linked forum you will see that the closure of Peacefield is the part of the council plan that delivers the reduction in school places by 210 places.

The closure of the Dale however appears to be a separate issue around creating a big "super School" by merging Rose Hill and the Dale, possibly to reduce running costs, funded mainly by central government grants. Many parents at all three schools will feel that bigger is not always better and the disruption involved for the children at these schools and the effective destruction of The Dale and Rose Hill as small successful schools is simply not worth it.

 

[admin]

There were three separate threads covering this topic, so I've merged them together for ease of reference.

[Dave]

See this previous thread on the subject of surplus places at Marple primary schools:  {previous thread now merged with this one - admin 13/7/08}

It's a very difficult issue, which most local authorities are having to tackle throughout the country - Stockport has got round to it rather belatedly.

Primary schools are closing and merging in order to cope with the falling pupil numbers over the coming years.  It's inevitably disruptive to children's education when it happens.  But it's hard to see an alternative - if we 'make our voices heard' then we really need to come up with another way of coping with the falling numbers.   

[computerdad]

Documents just released show that the council proposes to close both Peacefield and The Dale in August 2009. All the children from these schools will be sent to an expanded Rose Hill Primary using both Rose Hill and The Dale sites until 2011 while building work takes place on the Rose Hill site.
This sounds like a lot of disruption for the kids.
The project will cost at least 7.2 million of which 1.4m will come from selling the Dale site.
Details and documents can be found at :

http://thedaleprimary.proboards103.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1&page=1

I am sure more details will appear soon.

If you dont like the proposals make your voice heard.