Since I have been offline I have had responses from the Prime Ministers office, the Deputy Prime Ministers office, the Department for education and OUR local MP David Ruffley. So what follows are transcripts of the letter contents:
From the Direct Communications Unit 10 Downing Street,
Dear Mr Waters
I am writing on behalf of the Prime Minister to thank you for your recent letter and enclosures.
Mr Cameron is grateful for the time and trouble you have taken to get in touch.
Because the Department for Education is best placed to respond to the matters you raise, he has asked me to forward your letter to the Department so that they may reply to your concerns directly.
Yours sincerely
Correspondence Officer.
From the Direct Communications Unit 70 Whitehall,
Dear Mr Waters
I am writing on behalf of the Prime Minister to thank you for your recent letter and enclosure of 4 November.
It is good of you to take the time to write to Mr Clegg. I hope you will understand that as the points you raise are a matter for the Department for Education, he has asked me to forward your letter and enclosure so that they may respond directly.
Thank you, once again, for writing to the Deputy Prime Minister.
Yours sincerely
Correspondence Officer.
From David Ruffley MP
Thank you very much for your letter
regarding the schools organisation review in Suffolk, as we move to two tier in
the Stowmarket pyramid.
The move to two tier is going ahead, but there are of course
details to be worked upon, as you helpfully
suggest. One of the key concerns that I
have had put to me is that growing Stowmarket High School requires a split site
solution. I do not think that anyone
involved in the move to two tier would for one moment suggest that in a perfect
world we would want a split site solution.
It is for that reason that I called a meeting at Stowmarket High
School, earlier this Autumn to meet with the Chairman of Governors, the Head of
Stowmarket High School and Councillor
Graham Newman, portfolio holder responsible for the policy. I asked what
progress the County Council have made regarding the issue of building a new High School in Stowmarket on a new
site. The news on this is not positive.
Whilst there is an ear-marked site in the
long term planning document, nothing will happen unless there is capital
expenditure to build it. At present,
because of the biggest borrowing deficit in this country's peacetime history,
it will be some time before there is the
requisite capital to go ahead and build a new High School. Put simply, there just is no money available
in the schools budget. That means we
will have to work with the buildings we have and that, I am afraid, is
just a question of economics.
I have taken the trouble to write to Graham
Newman personally, drawing your points to his attention. Because of your letter to me, I intend to
call him to a meeting in Stowmarket to see what progress can be made to meet
your concerns, which are also the concerns
of many other local parents.
Thank you for taking the trouble to raise this with me.
David Ruffley MP.
From the Department for Education.
Dear Mr Waters
Thank you for your correspondence of 4 November, addressed to the Prime
Minister and the Secretary of State, about the Stowmarket and Stowupland area
School Organisation
Review. I hope you are able to appreciate the Prime Minister and Secretary of State receive a vast
amount of correspondence and are unable to reply to each one personally. Your
letter has been passed to this Department as it is responsible for education
matters and I have been asked to reply.
Whilst acknowledging your concerns, under current legislation it is the
responsibility of the local authority, in this case Suffolk County Council, for
planning and providing sufficient high quality school places for all those who
need one, in its area. All significant changes to maintained school
provision are matters for local determination; there is no role for the Prime
Minister or his Ministerial team and they are unable to influence the decision.
I understand that Suffolk County Council has recently consulted on
proposals for school reorganisation in the Stowmarket and Stowupland areas. The
consultation marks the first stage of the statutory process and the Council
should take into consideration any comments received during the consultation
before deciding whether or not to publish statutory proposals. Should the
Council decide to publish statutory proposals, there will then follow a six
week representation period in which further comments and objections can be submitted. Again,
the decision maker should take these into consideration before arriving at a
final decision on whether or not to approve the proposals.
If proposals are published, may I suggest that you again put your
concerns to Suffolk County Council during the representation period, so that
they can be taken into consideration.
It may be helpful to add that the Department has no prescribed view on
any particular pattern of school provision. Rather than being prescriptive about how
the school system is structured, the Government wants a system with the
flexibility to respond to parental demand and in which teachers and
professionals are trusted to make decisions on what is best for their area.
This could, therefore, lead to some areas having Middle schools, while others do not: it
will depend on what is considered the most suitable type of provision for that particular
area.
The Department has no plans to phase out middle schools as a matter of
national policy or
remove support from three-tier systems where they exist.
I hope you find this information useful.
Yours sincerely
Miss T Vaughan
Public
Communications Unit
I Hope you all find the responses interesting, I have been talking to lots of parents that feel similar to me and hope that the Local Authority listen to us and only continue with this SOR when the correct funding is available and when we are not going to affect our childrens' education.
Recently there has been lots of press about the fact that Suffolk has taken a tumble ( Massive Slide) in the county ratings, in my opinion some of this must be to do with the SOR affecting results. If the county could get some funds together through the "Raising the Bar" initiative, then maybe we can find some common ground with the LA and get some movement, but until funding is available to get this SOR right then I will stand against it.
raise this with me.
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