| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Overcrowding at Derwentwater Primary | |
| Posted by: | KJ Pierce | |
| Date/Time: | 24/03/10 07:29:00 |
| Iain Muir - it is Ealing Council that has proposed a new build Catholic school in Acton. Their cabinet paper regarding the expansion of primary school places recommends permanent expansion to East Acton primary and the construction of a new Catholic primary projected to open in 2012. The main driver for the latter appears to be that the Catholic Church wants to expand and has a site available. It's an expedient option. I have strong concerns about the development of another denominational school. We still have no compelling evidence that St Vincent's is heavily over-subscribed by children from the local area. A Catholic primary has no catchment area criteria - it isn't a solution to the local problem. Although the school would take a percentage of children from other faith backgrounds, children from non-faith families would be excluded. The council's response is very inconsistent. At last Friday's meeting, they stated that one reason for ruling out West Acton for temporary expansion was because they didn’t want children commuting all the way (!!) from Central Acton to West Acton. However, when challenged after the meeting as why Acton needs a second Catholic primary school, Laurence Field (Programme Manager for Primary Places) responded that this was a school build designed to meet the needs of the Catholic community across the whole borough....no commuting issues there then. With regard to Iain’s comment about Educational Nimbyism: I really don’t think that’s a valid point in this particular debate. Derwentwater School is full to capacity – absolutely nobody disputes this, even the council that wants to temporarily expand it. I have enormous sympathy for parents who can’t get a place for their child at Derwentwater, but compromising the progress of an entire school population is not a sensible solution. |