Saving our Sixth Forms

March 16, 2011

In Montgomeryshire we have some of the most successful secondary schools in Wales. At the Councils consultation meeting in Llanidloes last week over 700 residents  turned up, and I have included the 14 minute news clip form PVPTV below.

I am a member of the Conservative group on Powys County Council, the only political group on the council to oppose plans by Liberal Democrat and Powys Independent Councillors to remove sixth forms from some of our excellent community schools. The Welsh Conservative group believes that the case for making change is weak, funding models and cost savings do not add up and that key information such as extra transport costs have not been taken fully into account.

It is very depressing to see so much change being thrown at the schools in our county by Powys County Council, schools that have an excellent record of educational and pastoral achievement.

It was unnecessary to launch a review of primary schools in February this year when the review of sixth form education was far from complete. It has led to even more outrage among parents, children and schools across Powys just when a period of calm reflection was needed.

The Welsh Assembly government does seem to be rethinking its requirement for a big increase in the number of ‘A’ levels on offer with the recent speech by the Education Minister Leighton Andrews. If so, the need for such massive change with Sixth Forms in Powys will be much reduced.

We in the Welsh Conservative Party have real problems with the pace of change being imposed on Powys by Liberal Democrat and Powys Independent Councillors who run the Council and have opposed virtually all of their education reforms.

We strongly believe in local communities having a say in the future of their schools and we will do everything we can to make sure that the voice of parents and students is heard and understood at Powys County Council and the Welsh Assembly.

 

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Posted by russellgeorge

The case for change in Powys schools

December 8, 2010

Powys County Councils Ruling Board, of which I am a member, voted in favour by 10 – 3 to approve that the Secondary and Post-16 Modernisation Strategic Outline Case now goes out to public consultation with a preferred way forward. I was one of the 3 who voted against the recommendation as the preferred way forward would lead to a number of sixth forms being removed from secondary schools – The closure of sixth forms.

The publication of the latest results of the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment was also released this week which shows Wales has fallen down the league table of OECD nations. These figures are very disappointing and show how far behind Wales has fallen in basic skills. Wales is the worst performing nation in the UK for educational standards.

However, in Powys schools are achieving some of the best results in Wales with excellent results at GCSE and A levels largely down to good teachers, so I think it is imperative we do nothing that harms the present provision. If we are to make change to our school structure, there has to be a clear and overwhelming case.

The review of secondary education has come about as the council has had to deal with more subject choice and improving quality now being required, against a backdrop of falling pupil numbers and budget pressures. However, the potential savings in the Secondary and Post-16 Modernisation Strategic Outline Case document are marginal. I do not  think the case for change has been made and the savings identified certainly do not justify the risk of changing our school structure.

I am pleased that all 13 sites will now remain, our secondary schools are at the heart of our communities and are important factors in the regeneration of our towns, they are also significant employers and the largest employers in some towns. I am supportive of the principle of multiple site schools, but before I can put my support behind any change, I would need assurance that under this structure, one school site would not become the poor relation. Otherwise, my concern would be that further down the road the weaker site could close. (This would then be the closure of a site rather than a school!)

The overwhelming reason for voting against was that the hub and spoke model that is the preferred option for post 16 education would mean that sixth forms would be removed from some of our schools. I believe not having a full and working sixth form in communities such as Llanidloes, Caereinion, Llanfyllin and Ysgol Bro Ddyfi would have a hugely detrimental impact on the school and community. Some argue the case that in other areas secondary schools do not have sixth forms, but I believe you can not impose an urban model on a rural area.

The Councils board is made up of 15 County Councillors. All the Lib Dem Councillors along with Independent Councillors voted to support the preferred option. The Conservative Councillors (me being one of them) voted against. The public consultation will run from January to May 2011 and I urge you to take up the opportunity to have your say on these proposals. Myself, I could not support a recommendation that would lead to the destruction of some of our excellent community sixth forms.

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Posted by russellgeorge

Latest on Powys Schools

December 3, 2010

This week the Council announced its recommendations from its Secondary Schools review. The recommendation includes that all secondary school sites should stay open.

The review of secondary education has come about as the council has had to deal with more subject choice and improving quality now being required, against a backdrop of falling pupil numbers and budget pressures. The Council’s Board (which I sit on) meets on Tuesday and I will be asked to consider the outcomes of the review. It has been recommended that all schools sites will remain open. A previous option which I had not supported included for up to six schools to be closed. Savings will be made by streamlining the management structure of schools so that a head teacher would take responsibility for a school on two, or more, sites. This could mean having seven secondary schools on thirteen sites. This arrangement could be extended to include primary provision as well. There will also be a reorganising of Welsh medium education by consolidating the provision at a minimum of three schools.

Now to the recommendation for post-16. I oppose any removal of sixth forms from our current high schools, but a number of options are being considered, including working in partnership with Coleg Powys and consideration as to whether all post-16 learning should be managed by Coleg Powys, as the main provider of post-16 learning in the county. If approved next week, the recommendations will be the subject of a four month consultation. The Councils Board will then consider the outcome and implications of the consultation next summer.

I have some heavy reading and considering to do over the weekend!  The full documents are available under the board Agenda  on the Councils website.

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Posted by russellgeorge

Caersws CP school and the Home to School Transport Policy

September 23, 2010
Caersws CP School

Me aged 8 at Caersws CP School, 1982, with class and Mr Fleming

I called by Caersws County Primary School this week. I think it’s the first time I have been back there since I left as a pupil myself in 1985. After my visit, by complete coincidence Ceri Bromwell Gwilt posted a school year picture of me in class 3 aged 8 on Facebook today!

I had called by to visit the head teacher Mr Gardner to discuss the home to school transport policy and how it will affect the school. I was pleased to accept his offer of a tour. Since I attended, the only major difference to the building was a couple of extensions with an extra classroom. Other than that everything was the same except that all the classrooms looked smaller than I remember and 1 PC had turned into a suite of PCs. I also bumped into Mrs Gentle (who was Miss Thomas when she first taught me in Clatter Primary school) and Mr Williams who taught me in my last year at Caersws

Back to my original issue, the home to school transport policy:

The Welsh Assembly Government passed a measure (this is like an Act of Parliament) known as the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008. Because of the requirements contained in the Measure, if the Council chose to remain with its current policy, where transport is provided other than to the nearest school, it would put the Council at risk of incurring additional costs.

The policy is a lengthy document, but I would sum it up as this. The Council will only pay for transport to the nearest school from the child’s home address. There is an exception for Welsh medium education. There is also a transitional arrangement, which allows for children that are already attending a school to continue receiving free transport. If you want the full details click here and then click on the Agenda in the middle of the screen and go down to item 6

The policy was discussed and voted on at the Councils Board last week. I am one of the 15 Board Members, and the only member who voted against the proposal.

I have to reluctantly agree with the principle of the policy, but I disagree with the detail and there were areas that I was unhappy with.

One area was that infant and junior schools located on one site were not treated as one school. So a child may not receive free transport to the junior school after leaving the infant school. However, after I made this point, it was agreed that this would not be the case.

The other issue was that there was no flexibility built into the plan for communities that sit in-between two high schools. Caersws is an example.

Parents whose children attended Caersws school have always had the choice of which school to send their children. The vast majority have sent their children to Llanidloes for over a generation. Under the policy to be implemented next September residents in Caersws will only receive free transport to Newtown, as it’s slightly nearer.

My view is that one policy does not fit all. Under the proposals you could have a family with children in different high schools 15 miles apart, which is going to be deeply disruptive to family life, and all for a saving which has yet to be identified. The reality is that people in Caersws would just pay for and put their own bus on to Llanidloes with a near empty bus going to Newtown! Also an issue here with families that can’t afford to pay for transport.

Under the proposal it was agreed that Council officers will commence local consultation with parents in the areas affected. However, I was not convinced that this will address the issues such as in Caersws. All too often consultation just means informing. I hope I am wrong.

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Posted by russellgeorge

Secondary education in Powys

February 4, 2010

I’ve been busy attending public meetings, answering piles of emails and letters and getting into discussions on Facebook about my views on the document regarding secondary schools in Powys. I’m currently on top of answering all correspondence and this now gives me a chance to blog my views.

This is all on a document for consultation about the re-organisation of secondary education in Powys. The document lists four options, options vary from the closing of Llanfair Caereinon, Llanfyllin and Llanidloes High Schools to the closure of sixth forms at there current locations.

I should say that no decisions have been made. The Council is only at the start of a process of reviewing its secondary schools.

I read the 38 page document through and I should say that the County Times did an excellent job of summarizing the report in last weeks edition.

Anyway, now my views, I disagree with all the options put forward in the document and I can not support or vote for any option which includes the closure of Llanfair Caereinon, Llanfyllin or Llanidloes High Schools. Indeed, I can not support the closure of any secondary high school in Powys, unless its what the schools and residents want.

At last Thursday’s meeting of the Full Council, Councillor Aled Davies, who also wants these 4 options to be binned, called for an emergency debate to discuss this issue.  All members of the Conservative group on Powys County Council, of which I am a member, are against the closure of any secondary high school if  against the wishes of the school and community.

I have been helping Parliamentary candidate Glyn Davies organise Public Meetings to fight these closures over the past week.  Two meetings were held last week in Llanfair and Llanfyllin and this week meetings have been held in Welshpool and Llanidloes. I’ve been taking notes at the meetings and along with all the correspondence that I have received, I will be cousulting  my colleagues to make sure that the issues raised are discussed in the forthcoming council debate.

One good thing to come from this, If I can say that, is the creation of the facebook site “No to the closure of Llanfair, Llanfyllin and Llanidloes High Schools!” One of my passions as a younger County Councillor (If I can say that also!) is too get younger people more involved in local issues and politics, and out to the polling station at election time.

The Facebook site very much helps this aim, so please visit it at http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=272411473480&ref=ts

This is a subject with much more to run, so I will try and keep you updated.

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Posted by russellgeorge

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