About Herefordshire

Do you believe this is the end of the closure plans or do you fear that this may be only a temporary reprieve for some village schools?

Julia Sawyer
I am very concerned about the extra traffic these closures would generate pupils having to go further to get to school on top of the threat of closure

Alison Birch
We had the same situation in Wyre Forest a couple of years ago. Despite all of the public protests and "consultation" meetings parents' views were ultimately ignored and the council went ahead with their proposals to close schools, despite having no room for additional pupils at the remaining schools and no proper plans to build new schools for several years. So yes I do think that this will be a temporary reprieve and the council will go ahead with the closures.People can march and demonstrate all they like it will make no difference.

Anne
Herefordshire Council and in particular Ms Menghini should be treated with complete distrust.

Mary Ann
I cannot understand why this plan was even considered. Most people in the country would give anything to send their children to small friendly schools where they are treated as individuals. HCC would like to get rid of this and offer us a much poorer service and that is not even mentioning the amount of pollution caused by driving children to school half way across the county.

Debbie
council and goverment want heads read they say one thing and mean something completely different what happened to them wanting smaller classes with teachers having almost a one to one. plus teachers knowing children on a personal and by first names

Rachel craddock
I am very worried that the council are still determined to go ahead with their plans. The government are also backtracking claiming to protect rural schools. You cannot get much more rural than herefordshire!! Closing schools in our area will damage young children and teenagers, destroy communities and rip the heart out of a county which has a great deal to offer at present.children taking buses to a town 12 miles away when they currently have a fantastic school on their doorstep would be irresponsable and uncaring. No parent wants to send their child miles away from their home, the detrimental effects are far reaching and long lasting.

Edward Williams
I fully sympathise with what you are going through in Hereford we here in Shropshire have the same fight starting with Shropshire County Council. I wish you all the very best in keeping your schools open, they are at the very heart of rural England. Keep up the fight!

Stephen Brennan-White
I hope that this is the end of the closure plans.Why, if the schools have excellent Ofsted results and are financially sound, are they being considered for closure?Decisions should be made on educational grounds as well as financial.Who has been plotting/devising this closure plan? This idea did not happen overnight.Think again, whoever you are!

Jessica
I think that the school closing down and another school bonding together with us is silly because we have to have mobile classes again and it takes up space on our playing field.

james kingstone pupil
i think that putting clehonger and kingstone together will not work but putting fairfield and kingstone together is good

Luke Kingstone Pupil
there's not enough room in the hall for lots more children. The new school might have gangs.

Alister Kingstone pupil
I think that it is a bad idea because of several reasons. There is not enough room and time.

Lezley
Why are we building more houses but closing schools so the families who move have less facilities, but also why are we building more houses when pupil numbers are falling and within 20 years there will not be buyers for the houses we have built?If these schools are closed then people will not want to move to Herefordshire and more facilities will close as a result. This is far from the end of this.

Deborah Swales
No I don't believe that this is the end of closure plans and it is only a temporary reprieve for some village schools. My big fear now is that instead of the campaign mounting over the next few months so that everyone was on board when the decisions were announced at the end of the Summer Term the amalgamation will be scrapped and replaced with the closure of the schools that were to disappear with the amalgamation. The schools repreived will undoubtably feel relief leaving the other schools to fight alone. The one thing that came out of these proposals was the unity and support of heads for each other many of whom were not directly involved.I don't know how much effort Heads can put into the gathering of information etc during the Summer Term with SATs and transition and I urge anyone who has data etc that can be used shares it with all schools.We still need a unified body to prevent the closure of our rural schools in order to maintain unwanted empty spaces in city schools. I do believe that it might have been the impending threat of county-wide civil disobedience and street marches which made them have second thoughts.

Fiona
At a time when Central Government is encouraging us all to reduce carbon emissions, Hfds Council is suggesting that large numbers of children should travel further to school each day. I know we're a long way from London, but do wish that Local Government would try to keep up with the times and look after the environment these children will inherit.

Mike Cresswell
We in Bromyard do not believe that this is the end and are therefore continuing with our pland to MARCH through the streets on Saturday next 26th January at 11am anyone in Herefrdshire is welcome to join us to show solidarity over and closures. We had a successful public meeting last Thursday evening which attracted over 1000 people we would like to see an increase on this at the MARCH

Liz (a parent)
They have deferred this so that the new proposals will be announced over the summer period when schools are closed and parents and staff going on holiday so that support is harder to pull together. As usual from the LEA there are no financial figures provided and the consultation reply form would be rejected if it had been prepared by a teenager as it gives no alternative options. The LEA stated only in 2005 that the cost of transport for a secondary school pupil is £600-£800 and £1000 per primary pupil. What are the costs now and in the future for all the transportation required by these plans, especially after the fuel increases?

Mark Davis - Bromyard Town Councillor and Parent
The proposal was based on fictitious data, designed to enable Herefordshire Council to access possible future Government funding, instead of campaigning to increase the third lowest investment per pupil in the country. Of course the Council will carry on with these idiotic plans in a different guise, taking the least line of resistance with a government hellbent on destroying tradional community values. Bromyard voted with it's feet on Thursday last - 1000+ residents voting to fight these proposed closures, and we are not so naive in believing that the war is anything but over. The campaign has only just begun!!

Marie
A temporary reprive I fear.I think that many schools have a long hard fight ahead of them . What a great Summer Holiday Staff, chldren and parents will have! I don't know what the easy option is .

Ian (a parent)
What bad management to spend all that time, money and effort on a set of proposals, only to withdraw them 10 days later. What stress to have given to school staff, pupils and parents. What a reduction in learning to have caused to our children as schools stop moving forward.Will the director responsible be resigning?

Angie Mowbray
It seems that the Council have "sensed the wrath" from many quarters in our communities. If changes have to be made let them be done using some much needed common sense and grounded rationale behind any decisions. Certainly, look at problem areas, failing schools etc but be mindful of communites. We are a rural county and we do not want our children bussed around for hours each day.

julie reece
Sounds like they have just withdrawn the plans for the moment then they will try again in September. Probably the huge outcry that the poposals caused has upset them a little but they usually have trouble admitting their plans could be wrong.

Fiona Greenhill
THIS IS JUST A SMOKE SCREEN. THE COUNCIL ARE HOPING THIS WILL LURE PARENTS INTO THINKING THAT ALL IS WELL AND THE CHANGES WILL BE SCRAPPED.