Lots of children, no school places. We need the council to listen to us now!
Background
For the benefit of people new to the campaign, here's a bit of background info:
There are two primary schools in Long Ashton: Birdwell and Northleaze. Each has a pupil capacity of 210, consisting of seven 30-pupil classes, one for each year group.
Between them, the village schools can accept up to 60 Reception class pupils each year. However, in 2008 twenty three Long Ashton children were denied a Reception Class place in the village. This is a trend forecast to worsen over the next few years.
Long Ashton has become an attractive place for newlyweds to move from Bristol to start families. Moreover, 300 new homes have recently been built, many of which are occupied by young families.
For reasons as yet unfathomable, North Somerset Council seems to have completely missed both these trends and its solution is to send Long Ashton children to other primary schools outside the village, some as far away as Pill.
Of the 60 places for the September 2008 Reception class intake, 10 were given to children outside Long Ashton, on the basis they already had a sibling at one of the schools. That meant there were just 50 places for Long Ashton children.
For these 50 places there were 73 applicants, meaning 23 families were unable to send their children to a local school in 2008. Children living as close as 0.3 miles to Birdwell and less than 0.25 miles to Northleaze did not get in.
A few went to Flax Bourton Primary but others were allocated schools at Backwell, Felton and Pill.
The council is obliged to provide transport for children schooled more than 2 miles from their home. North Somerset’s answer is to put 4-year olds on a bus, unsupervised, with adolescents. Where an existing school bus service is not available then the council provides taxis, but parents are still unable to accompany their children.
Needless to say these transport arrangements are completely unacceptable to Long Ashton parents, so those that can drive their children to school.
For the foreseeable future things will get worse, according to the Council’s own estimates.
In response to the shortage of primary school places in the village the Long Ashton School Crisis Group (LASCG) was formed in early 2008. The group has set up a website at www.lascg.org.uk and encourages everyone to register their support for its campaign to get significantly more primary school places provided both in the short term and long term.
There are two primary schools in Long Ashton: Birdwell and Northleaze. Each has a pupil capacity of 210, consisting of seven 30-pupil classes, one for each year group.
Between them, the village schools can accept up to 60 Reception class pupils each year. However, in 2008 twenty three Long Ashton children were denied a Reception Class place in the village. This is a trend forecast to worsen over the next few years.
Long Ashton has become an attractive place for newlyweds to move from Bristol to start families. Moreover, 300 new homes have recently been built, many of which are occupied by young families.
For reasons as yet unfathomable, North Somerset Council seems to have completely missed both these trends and its solution is to send Long Ashton children to other primary schools outside the village, some as far away as Pill.
Of the 60 places for the September 2008 Reception class intake, 10 were given to children outside Long Ashton, on the basis they already had a sibling at one of the schools. That meant there were just 50 places for Long Ashton children.
For these 50 places there were 73 applicants, meaning 23 families were unable to send their children to a local school in 2008. Children living as close as 0.3 miles to Birdwell and less than 0.25 miles to Northleaze did not get in.
A few went to Flax Bourton Primary but others were allocated schools at Backwell, Felton and Pill.
The council is obliged to provide transport for children schooled more than 2 miles from their home. North Somerset’s answer is to put 4-year olds on a bus, unsupervised, with adolescents. Where an existing school bus service is not available then the council provides taxis, but parents are still unable to accompany their children.
Needless to say these transport arrangements are completely unacceptable to Long Ashton parents, so those that can drive their children to school.
For the foreseeable future things will get worse, according to the Council’s own estimates.
In response to the shortage of primary school places in the village the Long Ashton School Crisis Group (LASCG) was formed in early 2008. The group has set up a website at www.lascg.org.uk and encourages everyone to register their support for its campaign to get significantly more primary school places provided both in the short term and long term.
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