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Students Against Closures <saveedinburghschools>

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	Doomed schools list fails every test	828 días hace

	Doomed schools list fails every test GARETH ROSE EDUCATION REPORTER WE all knew it was coming, as sure as children knew the summer holidays would not last forever. All the warnings about falling rolls, all the half-empty schools and, of course, that alarming £10 million council black hole, much of it the education department's own overspend, meant it was inevitable that at some stage we would see a long list of schools to be closed. On Friday it came - 13 primary schools, three secondaries and six nurseries were put forward for closure, in a programme on an even bigger scale than had been feared. In the city, it was like a bomb going off. A shocked silence followed by an angry eruption. Parents went from quiet, and in some cases tearful, desperation to angry and determined indignation, in a matter of hours. Advert for Bank of Scotland IASA You could chart the change in mood as the day wore on and the consequences of the heart being ripped out of a community became more apparent. Now the time has come to pick among the debris and devastation caused by the council's proposal and try to find the rights and wrongs - and it is not easy. I thought there would be few people who would be opposed to shutting at least some of Edinburgh's schools. After all, the council's argument is strong - running half-empty schools wastes money that could be better spent on children's education. But there have been plenty of people leaving messages on the Evening News website saying that no schools at all should be closed. The general tone seems to be that money being spent on trams would be better used keeping these schools open. Sadly, it does not work that way - although maybe we should ask why - and the two areas belong to entirely separate budgets. But it is understandable that people should get confused when they are told class sizes are being reduced because it is better for children to get more one-on-one teacher time, while at the same time schools are being closed because their populations are too low. But the hard truth is that some schools should close. The maths is undeniable - the schools close, the council saves money, and if that cash is ring-fenced and put back into education, then the children will benefit. So the question is whether the council has got the right schools. In some cases, it would appear that it has not. Closing Dalmeny and Stockbridge makes no sense. They are very good schools and oversubscribed for a reason - if you send your child there, he or she will get a great start in life. Stockbridge parents complain the city council has got its catchments drawn wrong, and a lot of children who are down as coming from outside the area, are actually going to their nearest school. A lot of children who attend Abbeyhill and Stockbridge go on to two of the city's top private schools, Edinburgh Academy and Stewart's Melville College. Bingham, meanwhile, is to lose both its school and community centre. But in my opinion the greatest error the council has made so far is in the high schools it has named. The appearance of Drummond Community High School on the list drew an angry and articulate response from a sixth-former on our website. She made it clear that she had benefited from an education at a small, so-called underpopulated school, and if she had not spelled it out in her words, the quality of her grammar and reasoning would have told you as much anyway. But closing Drummond would not even be the council's biggest mistake. Axing Castlebrae and Wester Hailes Education Centre could be disastrous and have major implications for two of the Capital's poorest wards. Right now the schools are just 12 months into a £1.5 million project, funded by Sir Tom Hunter, that hopes to narrow the gap in achievement between rich kids and poor, which is supposed to last another two years. Castlebrae is all set to get a new high school building in 2011. It is supposed to be the jewel in the crown of the regenerated Craigmillar. Well the crown just got snatched. Millions have been poured into the rebirth of Craigmillar (not always very effectively), but the closure of Castlebrae could instead be the final nail in the coffin. Who will want to move to an area that does not even have a secondary school? And what about the children who will be shipped out of Castlebrae and Wester Hailes, to go to Liberton and Forrester, where they will be the poorer relations at someone else's high school? Schools like Castlebrae and Wester Hailes have been designed to help children from less advantaged backgrounds. It is easy to look at school league tables and see these schools as among the worst in Edinburgh, but the problems with attainment that the children have are deeper-rooted than that, and these schools often have the effect of narrowing the gap. A bright, advantaged child going on to Cambridge or Oxford is no more successful than a less academic one battling against the odds to earn an apprenticeship and forge a career. The council must remember this.

	escrito por Students Against Closures

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Amy ha dicho…

hace 828 días

I just read this in the Scotsman.

"Schools like Castlebrae and Wester Hailes have been designed to help children from less advantaged backgrounds. It is easy to look at school league tables and see these schools as among the worst in Edinburgh, but the problems with attainment that the children have are deeper-rooted than that, and these schools often have the effect of narrowing the gap. A bright, advantaged child going on to Cambridge or Oxford is no more successful than a less academic one battling against the odds to earn an apprenticeship and forge a career. The council must remember this."

Exactly!

Bebo