531

of 1,000 signatures

To Rt Hon Luke Hall, Rt Hon Chris Skidmore, Rt Hon Nadim Zahawi

Petition text

Dear Rt Hon Chris Skidmore, Rt Hon Luke Hall, and Rt Hon Nadim Zahawi

It has been announced today that there will be longer delays to the opening of Lyde Green Secondary School. This will place schools within Lyde Green’s APR into a crisis point. Roughly 90 pupils will be leaving Lyde Green Primary school and going into Year 7. Secondary schools within the APR of Lyde Green Primary School will now have to find places to support these children. South Gloucestershire Council’s Commissioning of School Places Strategy 2018-2022 highlights that for this school year there will be a deficit of 129 school places.

PAN’s
Mangotsfield – 240 (planned deficit of 34)
Winterbourne – 300 (Planned deficit of 44)
Downend – 210 but increased to 240 because of demand (Planned deficit of 32)
Kings Oak – 75 (150) places as they are a through school and will take from their linked primary school. (Planned deficit of 19)

Total of 930 places within Lyde Green’s APR, however Winterbourne International Academy falls into 2 APRs and children from Lyde Green are not in it’s priority APR. Downend is similar in that it will always look to take children within it’s local area i.e. Stanbridge Primary. What is clear is that once again children within Lyde Green are not a priority and that these revelations cannot be new. To give parents such a short amount of time to re-consider their choices is completely unacceptable. What is also unacceptable is the amount of time it took the department for education to allocate funding for the development of a secondary school, had this funding be allocated sooner problems within the building development would not have affected the residents of Lyde Green. A development of 2,500 properties and 6 years on still no secondary school provision despite the desperate school places situation. It was announced back in August that the building would not be ready and that temporary buildings would have to support the students at Winterbourne Academy, but to tell parents this will not be happening now is not fair. It questions the Government’s and Council’s commitment to education and highlights the funding issues of free schools.

As a Government, education should be a priority, after all, young minds of this Country are the future. This is not an isolated incident in South Gloucestershire, there have been persistent funding issues across the County and this has caused challenges.

There are definitely some questions that require answers;
• When were South Gloucestershire Council made aware the development was in trouble?
• Why was the SGS through school scrapped and replaced by Olympus and C-SET?
• How will South Gloucestershire Council support parents and children without their first choice at this short notice, will SGC grant an extension on choices?
• Will the new primary school’s opening be delayed as well?

Sign the open letter

Signers list

Shannon Griffiths
Katherine Hobbs
Rhiannon Teeluck
Lucy Obrien
Emily Pearce
Jo
Philip Hocking
Samantha Wiltshire
Larry Harrison
Sophie Jefferies
Jon Bowden
Jamie Couzens-Pardy
Anthony Garside
Paxson Tam
Danielle Jenkins
Holly Rees
Archie Michael Carnell
Debbie Rumsey
Hayley Spicer
Katie
Louise Foster
Sam
Lauren Jones
Samantha Reed
Lucy Baggs
Petronela Oana Ciobanu
Kathryn Bettesworth
Alex Mercier
Natasha Williams
Pankaj Singh
Hayley Golding
Jessica White
Toni Lawrence
Samuel Ng
Peter Purnell
Nimra Nawaz
Jadie Berry
Balazs Bercesi
Karen Worley
Jackie Hitchings
Niall Degan
Lucy Timm
Victoria Denning
Samantha Moore
Kelly Mcfarlane
Stacy Hodges
Charlotte Evans
Hannah Lovell
Jolene Garside
Katherine Hanlon

Give Lyde Green the Secondary School It Needs

Next step - spread the word

You're signing this as

Not you? Click here

Give Lyde Green the Secondary School It Needs

Will you chip in?

I'm chipping in £0

Secure lock symbol

Your donation is

One off Monthly

Choose your contribution amount

£200

Thanks, we just need a few more details to set up your direct debit.

Change your contribution amount

First name
Last name
Your email
Address (line 1)
Town
Your postcode
Account name
Account number
Sort code
Thank you for your donation. Please hold on while we process your details securely.