29 January 2008
Rural School Closures
Posted by Richard under: Rural Issues .
Shropshire County Council have opened a can of worms and announced the impending closure of 22 local primary schools, 20 of which are rural. Their decision is based wholly on financial budget constraints. They are targeting small schools, regardless of performance or importance to the rural communities. Their proposed solution is ill-concieved and poorly thought-out.
Our village school is one targeted with closure.
The Rural Affairs White Paper published by Defra in 2000 highlighted the importance of vital rural services, such as local primary schools, in maintaining a viable rural community.
- Welshampton School
- was founded in the mid nineteenth century.
- has a total of 81 pupils (out of a total of 84 places).
- was graded as ‘outstanding’ at the last Ofsted inspection.
- was highlighted as offering ‘outstanding value for money’ in last Ofsted report.
If you feel that closing rural schools that are popular and performing exceptionally is fundamentally wrong, then please take the time to complete the petition on the attached link:
Alternatively, please sign the Number 10 Downing Street e-petition. This is a more general petition asking the Prime Minister of the UK to to strongly object to the proposed new policy document for reorganisation of primary schools in Shropshire.
6 Comments so far...
Jean Says:
29 January 2008 at 4:18 pm.
I would happily sign your petition but living in France I don’t think it will help. I do hope you are able to stop it. We hav very good local primary school - and secondary come to that - out here and I don’t know what I’d have done if I’d had to drive for MILES for a primary school run. The French system is not ideal by any means but I think a mix of the two systems would be a good start!
Richard Says:
29 January 2008 at 9:54 pm.
Jean - thanks for the support and totally understand not signing as you live in France. Although I have added the link to the more general No.10 e-petition which is available to ex-pats (if you fall in that category).
Sam - thanks for signing….no lambs yet, but we have five ewes close now and housed up & a further ewe that frankly looks as if it is going to abort (but we hope it doesn’t)…this is the start of the four-hourly checks through the night (and snow is forecast).
farmingfriends Says:
29 January 2008 at 10:06 pm.
I have signed the petition. Hope all is well on your farm with all the animals. What a great Christmas present - the raspberry canes are. Sara from farmingfriends
Lucy Says:
30 January 2008 at 1:02 pm.
I’ve signed it as well. Unbelievable that they’d even consider doing this. Are the papers involved? I would try and get news coverage all over it. Also perhaps contacting some Rural magazines like Country Living or Country Life and getting them involved might be an idea?
Richard Says:
30 January 2008 at 7:53 pm.
Sara - thanks for signing. All the animals are doing OK….lambing is looming, so the next few weeks will involved being tired, stress, cold and wet - hopefully it will all be successful in the end.
Lucy - thanks for your support. Believe me, the whole community has been writing, emailing, calling everyone we can identify from politics, pressure groups, and the media. Shropshire has been awash with tv crews and newspaper hacks for the past few days.