IT has long been the case, and it still is, that schools with insufficient local pupils are threatened with closure because, according to the county council, such schools are unviable. Such is the case with Littledean Primary School which not so long ago was one of those about to face the axe.
We now have the ridiculous situation in which four year-old Jamie Turner, who is so local he only lives 200 yards away and already attends the nursery there, is refused admission to the school itself because too many children from Cinderford have been allocated places in Littledean. As a result there are plenty of free spaces at schools in Cinderford. Jamie has been offered a place at Forest View Primary School in Cinderford, and to get there he will no doubt pass other children in the opposite direction on their way to Littledean.
It appears that priority is given to children who have siblings already there. If the presence of relatives qualifies for admission, then surely the education chiefs could interpret the rules to make them fair, and offer Jamie a place at Littledean on the grounds he has two cousins who also attend the nursery and therefore all three could start school life together at Littledean. The education chiefs would then be able to inform the appropriate families in Cinderford that their children would not have to walk up that steep hill after school because they had been re-allocated places at Forest View School.
Ms Val Huggett of Littledean School, by all accounts, has told the county council that she supports the bid to get Jamie into Littledean on the grounds that local family links are important to primary schools. The appropriate official at the county council, Sam Budd, said the council has to comply with Littledean School admission criteria.
Perhaps Ms Huggett could now take a fresh look at that admission criteria. Schoolchildren having to walk past one school to get to another a couple of miles away is a ridiculous situation in which all sorts of possibilities could arise regarding such matters as road safety, accidents in snow, child abduction etc. If they travel by school bus, or if their parents take them by car, that will involve expense which local children walking to school would not incur. There could be all sorts of ramifications simply because priority of admission was based on whether or not the child had a sibling, instead of whether or not the child was local.
Perhaps Ms Huggett could admit Jamie into Littledean School and then hunt round for an extra chair. That shouldn't be too difficult. After all, if it wasn't for Jamie's great-great-great grandfather, there wouldn't be a Littledean School. – Anthony Reeve, Littledean.