'Please save the school we love'
By Pete CastleSeptember 18, 2008
“Please tell Hampshire County Council not to close down our much-loved school.”
That is the last-gasp plea this week from staff, pupils and parents at Oak Farm Community School, who have just days left to encourage people to speak out against plans to close the Farnborough secondary school.
The school, currently undergoing an official “consultation on closure”, will need an overwhelming backing from the public to convince county education chiefs not to shut it in 2010.
Hampshire County Council schools bosses launched the closure plans in May as a result of falling pupil numbers. Oak Farm currently is less than a third full, with just 228 pupils despite having space for 693.
Click here for a timeline of school closure plans
The figure is even lower than that forecast by county schools planners, who had predicted that the school roll would have 253 names on it this year.
Gren Earney, head teacher of the Mayfield Road school, said now was the time to act for people who care about the future of young people in the area.
“This is the last opportunity to send a message to the people making the decisions and an opportunity the shape the future of education locally for the next 50 years,” he said.
Taking the school away would be a hammer blow for a community already dealing with severe inequalities of wealth, health and opportunity, he said.
The area around Oak Farm includes some of the former London County Council over-spill estates considered to be among the poorest areas in the country.
“We are integral to the life of the community,” Mr Earney said. “What we do is more than simply educating children between 8.30am and 3pm in the area. We are here for community users 365 days a year.
Mr Earney said a smaller, more focused school gave the best opp-ortunities to succeed for pupils who would otherwise could be lost among other, larger schools.
“Our curriculum is very different to other schools in Farnborough,” he said. “It is designed to meet the needs of some who don’t find learning easy.”
Mr Earney said it was common for some pupils to become overwhelmed by large secondary schools, and that the most recent educational studies showed that smaller secondary schools were more beneficial.
Cllr David Kirk, the county council’s executive member for children’s services, the Tory who will ultimately decide Oak Farm’s fate, also encouraged people to make their voices heard.
“The consultation on proposals to close Oak Farm school is coming to a close soon and I am very keen to hear all the views of local people on this matter,” he said in a statement. “The key priority for Hampshire County Council is ensuring high quality education for all pupils in Farnborough and I must stress that no decisions have yet been taken on this matter.”
Council education planners point to Pinewood Infant School as proof that a “consultation on closure” does not necessarily mean a school will shut.
The Pinewood Park school was earmarked for closure after suffering an arson attack in 2004, but a public outcry led the county to reverse its decision. The school’s £3m award-winning building opened in 2007.
Despite the threat to Oak Farm’s future, morale among staff remains high. Jane Osgood, deputy head teacher, said staff believed the school’s recent successes would stave off its demise.
“We could have had an exodus of staff,” she said, “but we have had very few people leave. The only staff who have left were genuinely moving out of the area.
“There is a feeling among the staff that they could not close a school that meets the needs of its surrounding community so well.”
Clare Barclay, an adult learning assistant, whose two children Matthew, 15, and Daniel, 19, had both come to Oak Farm, said it was “essential” that the school remain open.
“It is a slightly smaller school but there is a wonderful atmosphere here,” Mrs Barclay said.
“Both my sons immediately loved it here, even though their friends went elsewhere.”
She urged people to stand up for education in the area.
“This is not a foregone conclusion,” she said. “Everybody needs to be heard on this and speak up.”
Oak Farm has been praised for its work in providing a venue for community and adult education programmes.
While county council planners have stressed their support for the programme, and promised that community learning facilities will continue regardless of the decision, closure would have a devastating impact on services, its managers said.
Gail Hayward, the adult community learning manager at the school, said that without the secondary school, the range of the much-lauded educational opportunities for people living in the area would be severely curtailed.
“Without the school, we would not be here. It’s as simple as that,” she said. “If they just left the building and said it was for community and adult education, we would just not have the resources to keep going.”
Have your say on proposals
To log your support or objection to the closure of Oak Farm Community School:
Visit www.hants.gov.uk/education/oakfarmreview, or write to: Glenn Parkinson, School Organisation Officer, Children’s Services Department, The Castle, Winchester, SO23 8UG for a consultation form.
Final date for responses is September 30.
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