The Possible Closure of Parkside Infant School
A Consultation Paper
BACKGROUND
All primary schools in Bath & North East Somerset are being
reviewed on an area basis between September 2003 and July 2007.
The Council Executive has agreed that the aims of these reviews
are:
- To maintain and improve educational standards
- To maximise the use of existing resources (land, buildings and
funding)
- To increase access to high quality facilities for children,
staff and the community
- To make the choice of a local school the natural and easy
choice for parents
Each of these statements has some weight. In particular areas
and at particular schools the importance of each statement will
differ.
WHY ARE WE PUBLISHING THIS PAPER?
On 7 April 2004 the Council Executive decided that it wished to
consult people about the possible closure of Parkside Infant
School. This decision was reached after a review of Parkside and
ten other schools in north and central Bath. The Area Review
involved the Headteachers and Chairs of Governors at all these
schools, Councillors who form the Overview & Scrutiny Panel and
various Officers from the Education Service.
WHAT ARE WE ASKING?
We are simply asking whether you believe that the school should
close. Later in this document we will put forward some of the
reasons why the school is being considered for closure. We ask that
you read the document, attend (if you can) the public meeting that
is being held (see page 4 for details of date, time and place),
listen to the arguments for and against closure and contribute if
you wish to that discussion.
We ask that you then send us comments. You can use the form at
the back of this paper or write to us by letter or
e-mail.
WHY IS THE SCHOOL BEING CONSIDERED FOR CLOSURE?
There are several reasons why the Council Executive decided to
consult people about the closure of Parkside.
The school is the third smallest infant school in Bath &
North East Somerset and the fifth smallest school overall. It is
unusual for a school of such a small size to be located in the
centre of a city. The school is less than 2/3 full and therefore
has a large percentage of empty places. At January 2004 there were
54 full-time pupils on roll and another 23 children attending the
nursery on a part-time basis. The numbers of children really matter
as some costs at schools are fairly fixed (salaries, maintenance
costs, other running costs) and the fewer pupils there are the
greater the cost per head. We believe that it is unfair and an
inefficient use of resources for one group of children to benefit
from additional resources at the expense of another purely on the
basis of the size of the school they attend.
In addition, the school is not particularly suitable for modern
education and it is missing certain important facilities such as a
computer room, a library and a designated space where children with
special educational needs can receive the extra support they
require. Other areas are also unsuitable. For example, there are no
grassed areas for the children to use either for learning or
play.
The fact that the school is located at the entrance to a major
public car park is a cause for concern. The condition of the
building is not exceptionally bad but £65,000 is required to be
spent over the next couple of years in order to deal with urgent
and essential repairs and maintenance problems.
It is also the case that the school serves two distinct
populations. About half the children come from within half a mile
of the school. The other half come from a wider, and in some cases,
a much wider area of Bath. We have included a diagram to show
this pattern. A star represents each child and the diamonds
represent schools. The black circle represents a half-mile distance
in each direction from the school. The significance of this is that
a) it means that available places in the areas where children live
are being left empty and b) it means that children are not
attending their local school and this has an effect on the
cohesiveness of the communities in which these children live.
Each of these issues is significant and taken together, there
are good reasons to take the issue of closure of Parkside Infant
forward for wider public discussion.
IF PARKSIDE CLOSES WHERE WILL THE CHILDREN GO?
Given that children come from both the immediate area
surrounding the school and a much wider area children on roll
at Parkside will be offered places at the nearest school to their
home address providing that this school has places available for
children of infant age. Children who cannot be placed elsewhere
will transfer to St Saviour’s CE Infant School in Larkhall.
Parents/carers who are seeking places for nursery aged children
would, if possible, be offered places at other LEA nurseries in the
area.
IF PARKSIDE CLOSES, WHEN WILL IT CLOSE?
The Council believes that the school should close at the end of
the school year 2004/05. Legally this is August 31 2005 although
the children and staff would obviously not be there on that date.
This will mean that children currently in Reception and any
children who join the school in September 2004 will be the only
groups affected as the other children currently at the school will
have left or be planning to leave in July 2005 in any case.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE STAFF IF THE SCHOOL CLOSES?
As is the case when a factory or office closes the people
working there are at risk of losing their jobs. The Council always
does all it can to try and place people in other jobs. This is
because we have no wish to lose experienced and talented staff and
any redundancy payments are taken from the total education budget
which leaves less to be spent on children.
IF THE SCHOOL CLOSES WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE
BUILDING?
The building is owned by the Council. It may be sold but this is
probably unlikely. Another Council service may express an interest
in using the building. The value or possible re-use of the building
or the land on which it is located has played no part in the
decision of the Council to begin this process.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Once this consultation is over, every form, letter and e-mail
will be copied and given to members of the Council Executive. A
copy of the minutes of the public meeting will also be passed to
the Executive.
The Executive will also receive a report prepared by Officers
which summarises and highlights the issues raised during
consultation. Officers will ask elected councillors to accept the
report and the recommendations of Officers. It is entirely up to
the members of the Executive whether they accept these
recommendations or whether they want to do something else.
The Executive has to show that, when taking its decision, it has
taken account of the views expressed in the consultation. It does
not have to agree with those views.
The Executive can decide to publish the legal notice necessary
to close a school. It can also decide to do nothing and leave the
school open or potentially, it could ask Officers to carry out
further consultation or investigation.
If a decision is taken to publish the legal notice to close this
would be published in September 2004 and there would be six weeks
for people to send representations, including objections to the
Council.
If there are objections to the proposals to close the school,
then the issue has to go to the School Organisation Committee which
is separate and independent from the Council. This Committee makes
the final decision.
If there are no objections the Council can take the final
decision itself.
IMPORTANT DATES
Consultation begins May 10 2004
Public Meeting Monday May 24 2004
To be held at Parkside Infant School, Charlotte Street, Bath
at 6.30 p.m.
Consultation
closes
June 11 2004
Council
Executive
Tuesday July 5 2004
At the Guildhall, Bath at 10 a.m.
Anyone can attend. If you want to speak please contact Jo
Morrison on 01225 394358 by Wednesday June 30 at the latest. She
will explain the details of the public speaking
scheme.
