Meeting documents

Q.

Is the decision to amalgamate driven by cost? What about standards?

A.

There are a range of reasons:

a) cost - single school means one head teacher

In 1997 when the proposal was first considered for several schools it was driven by cost.

b) There is a good chance of Government funding as the school is in an urban area with relatively high levels of need.

c) There could be extended facilities on site, including health and social provision, such as speech language therapy, Adult literacy classes with proper rooms. It could be purpose built with all the best facilities.

Q.

What would be the impact on the children themselves?

A.

In Radstock one school is being built on the site of an existing school and the children have been involved in visits to the site, learning about buildings and how they go together. This has been educational and has prevented `unofficial' visits to the site. They also contributed 200 concepts to the design and some of these designs are now decorating the hoarding around the building site.

Q.

Will the building be of stone construction? Will it be built to last?

A.

The design will be our decision working with the architects, they will need to design a building that suits the site and agree with Planners in this area. There is no stock school design to take from site to site and it will need to be built to regulations and incorporate good practice from other school design. The design life is normally 30 years.

When the architect looks at the site s/he may decide the best plan would be to re-use some of the buildings. At the new Special School an old building has been re-used and incorporated into the new buildings.

The Council used to be obliged to take the cheapest quote. Now quality is given greater weight - 70/30 on quality and price.

Q.

What will happen to the school playing field?

A.

If we are to build a new 210 place primary school then the site is much bigger than required. The architect will decide where on the site the school would best be sited. If part of the playing field is used then perhaps the land on which the old school buildings stand will be returned to playing field. In any event the school will have the right size and layout of playing field. It may be possible to sell part of the site to raise money for the school.

Q.

Does that mean part of the field could be sold off to developers?

A.

The aim is not to give up part of the site for development but to create a new school fit for the 21^st century. What happens to surplus/spare land is secondary to that.

Q.

If the land goes for housing then there will be more children to go to the school. Will the 210 place school be big enough?

A.

If say 60 houses were built this would mean on average 12 extra children.

Q.

If the school is one form entry could you allow space on the site for development?

Q.

The site needs to be developed with children in mind. Will there still be room for a football field and a swimming pool?

A.

Government legislation covers the outside area for children and a football field will be included. It is doubtful if there will be a swimming pool.

Q.

Will the new school have the same kitchen provision as we have on site now?

A.

The new school will have a hot kitchen where hot meals can be prepared.

Q.

Residents were not given any information about this proposal, we heard from people passing by. This public consultation is not just for parents, we live here, and you are responsible for letting us know what's happening. You say the spare land is not your business but what happens to it affects us. We should have had letters through our door.

A.

We did not mean that the spare land is not important, just that we cannot say what will happen to it at present. We can only discuss the school. Notices were put in the local papers, but we did not feel it necessary to spend a great deal of money leafleting the area. We should have publicised the meeting more effectively for the immediate residents.

Q.

Why didn't you do more to get people here? The field could be sold to build a supermarket.

A.

In the eight years of this local authority, no fields have been sold for housing or supermarkets and no permission to do so has been applied for by the Authority.

Q.

The fumes from the two roads would affect the children. The traffic in the area is really bad.

A.

The Highways Department say what roads are needed for the area, parking will also have to be created, it may be necessary to have a separate entrance and an exit onto the road. It would not be advisable to have this on the main road.

Q.

What is the next stage?

A.

This meeting is the sounding board for the community. We then go back to the Council Executive for a decision. If it is to go ahead then closure notices are issued for the two schools, and a new notice issued for the new school. This will be the first stage.

Q.

If the school is to be a single year entry with mixed classes the staff won't be able to cope. If there is to be only 210 places it means you are taking all the spare places out of Southdown. There are still large families in this area and it has not depleted as much as Oldfield Park/Westmoreland. There are new houses going up and we need at least 80 to 100 more places.

A.

This has been the main theme, people have been saying that they don't agree with the figure of 210 places. We will go away and look at this figure. If it is 210 places then it means 30 children in each year and not mixed classes.

Q.

Does this mean we lose the more experienced members of staff, will they be replaced by new, cheaper staff?

A.

At present the school has a good combination of younger and experienced staff and there is no need for this to change. It was calculated that by the year 2008 if the school is built there will have been a steady decline in numbers and the 210 places will be sufficient.

Q.

How many are on the school roll now?

A.

There are 332 on the role at present. 290 full-time and 42 part-time nursery pupils)

Q.

So this is like using a glass ball, trying to predict the numbers for the future.

A.

We have completed studies on mapping pupils and this helped us to come up with the figure of 210.

Q.

I think the school will be too small at 210 places, at 420 there would be 2 classes of 30, this seems more likely.

A.

We will be going back to look at the figures.

Q.

What is the policy on driving children to other schools?

A.

Parental choice is an issue we have to consider.

Q.

What if the school is full?

A.

Then the children who live nearer will go to the school.

Q.

Why not leave it as it is?

A.

We believe a primary school would be better. There would be more benefit from training, with continuity for teachers and pupils. Over time we believe all infants and juniors will become primary schools.

Q.

We want the best for our children, how do your plans tie in with other areas, as Southdown is classed as a deprived area and we have Sure Start SW etc.

A.

This fits in with Government planning. This is the right area for expenditure, with a good community, and stable housing in an urban area.

Q.

This is a chance to create added community spirit isn't it?

A.

Central Government policy is to have a single site with extended school facilities. The new Special School has plans for a range of health and social care services. These schools are being built to provide the services needed in that school. We are now looking at this site and at this early stage want to find out if it would be good to pursue or not.

Q.

Mixing small children with lads of 11 years old cannot be good?

A.

They will be given staggered playtimes or separate playgrounds. The interactions are organised and positive activities take place such as reading buddies (older children helping younger children).

Q.

Traffic outside the school is horrendous at times, the congestion will worsen?

A.

The Highways Department decide what is needed, either we provide it or we do not get planning permission. It may not resolve current problems but can assist.

Q.

You are trying to squeeze the children's play area out.

A.

The site will have at least the required amount set down by Government.

Q.

Why didn't you bring along plans of the Radstock school for us to see?

A.

Because it is not finished, and a new primary school here would not look like that school. It would be built to suit this area. If we had arrived with a big presentation you might have thought we were going to build it anyway. This is not the case, this is only the sounding board to see what you think of the idea of a primary school.

A.

The staff, governors and people who use these schools need to tell us what they think. The process is very long, once the Overview and Scrutiny Panel have met, on the 6^th April they will advise the Executive who may say no. If yes then a new process takes place - this takes 6 weeks and closure notices will be issued.

S.

If the school is to include adult literacy classes then unknown adults will be in the school.

A.

There will need to be separate entrances. This can be done with a lobby area then locked doors to different parts of the school, these will need to meet with fire regulations. The rooms will be part of the same building, but with separate entrances. The principle is the protection and safety of the children comes first.

Q.

Why don't you wait until you have seen how the Radstock schools work before building others like it?

A.

The schools at Radstock will be ready for 1^st September 2005.

The Special School will be ready for 1^st September 2006.

Bath and North East Somerset has expertise in building new schools, but it will be at least three years before the new Southdown school is built and these other schools will be running during this time. It takes one year for the DfES to grant the money, 1 year for Architect and Construction company consultation, and 1 year to build. During this time alterations can be made to the plans.

Q.

Can we see the plans for the Radstock School?

A.

We can bring them in next week and put them in the hall. We can display them here for 2 days and 2 days in the infants school.

Q.

Why didn't you find out what might happen to the field?

A.

We can ask the Corporate Estate Manager what could happen and what the likelihood is.

Q.

Why can't you adapt this school?

A.

It may be possible, we don't know until the architect sees it, the long corridors and many steps, with a road through the schools as well means its not fit for the 21^st century. We could spend £1.5 million on refurbishment and find that for a little more we can get it exactly right in a new building.

A copy of the Consultation document is to go to targeted local homes.

A Questionnaire is to go to residents and parents.

Post-Meeting Note

The Radstock exhibition was delivered to Southdown Junior School on 17 January