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Proposal to close Chaucer Technology School Kent County Council has, with regret, announced a proposal that would see the Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury close. Individual letters explaining the proposal have been sent to parents of all 609 pupils. The letter will also include information about alternative school provision. Each pupil currently in Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 is being offered a place at an alternative secondary school from September 2014. Those currently in Year 10 will continue to be educated on the Chaucer site as they complete their GCSE courses. Pupils currently in Year 11 and Year 12 will also get help with finding places at school, in college or in work with training. Falling pupil numbers have left the school particularly vulnerable, with the reduction in children on roll meaning that there is not enough funding to provide the necessary breadth of curriculum and minimum teaching staff.Pupils who live more than three miles away from their allocated school will receive help with transport, in line with the council’s policy on home-to-school transport – and help will also be made available for school uniform. Roger Gough, KCC Cabinet member for education and health reform, said: “Any decision to close a school is taken with a heavy heart and is only ever the very last resort. As ever, the council is committed to making sure that children are taught in the most effective environment and get the best possible education. “Since the inadequate Ofsted inspection report a year ago the school has been doing well and making good improvements under the strong leadership of the Swale Academies Trust. Recent GCSE results show that there has been an improvement in attainment. Many people recognise the improvements the school has made over recent months and these improvements will continue regardless of the consultation process. The local authority, the school and Swale Academies Trust will continue to work together to secure a good education for current pupils. “However the future of the school depends on being able to provide the resources that children need in the longer term. With numbers dropping, the school is no longer viable – it does not have enough pupils to bring in the funding required to provide the resources needed. In this situation, the county council has little option but to find alternative places for the children currently at Chaucer. “However, given the size of the current Year 10 group – 153 young people – and the improved results this year, the council will work with the school and the Swale Academy Trust to keep this year group together on the Chaucer site to complete their GCSE courses. “I believe that, while it is particularly unusual to occupy a school with one year group, this will be less disruptive for this group of students than to be spread around other schools in the area. “At the same time, KCC will carefully consider the future of the site – paying particular attention to the forecasts of future pupil numbers in and around Canterbury.” |
My previous article looked at the background, so this one concentrates on the decision and its consequences, including what should affected parents do next?
The previous article has already attracted over 4000 hits in five days, counting in my regular subscribers, the fastest hit rate ever. Feel free to add a comment at the bottom of either item.
KCC has to go through a process of consultation before closing the school, which has begun today, but the reality is that it had no option given that the school is fast running out of pupils and is carrying an unacceptably high financial deficit that has built up over at least the last three years. The number of children to be offered places in Year 7 next week is down to 40, just a quarter of the number in Year 10, the dramatic fall being indicated by the tables below
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Numbers in the school at present
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Year Group
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Year
7
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Year
8
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Year
9
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Year
10
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Year
11
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Year
12
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Year
13
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Number of
students
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54 | 77 | 106 | 159 | 132 | 37 | 37 |
| Number of First Choices 2010-2014 | |||||
| Year | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 |
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Number of first
choices
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26 | 58 |
89
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115 | 163 |
These tables beg the critical question: why did no one notice what was going on? The answer I have heard too often in the past few days is 'complacency'. What did governors, who have already admitted negligence according to OFSTED in June 2013, say and do about the dramatic fall off in numbers and first choices over the preceding three years? How come they didn't even know the school had a serious financial problem at the time of the first OFSTED Report in February 2013. They carry a great deal of responsibility for the debacle. Chaucer Technology School was by far the most popular school in Canterbury just five years ago with a fine reputation. Over the past four years, it is clear that families thought otherwise and voted with their feet.
KCC has now confirmed that the size of the school’s financial deficit is some £600,000 which could only spiral upwards if the staffing to deliver an appropriate curriculum were provided for so few children. Indeed, for example, if the current Year 9 began GCSE courses in September, or Year 11 to start A Level, there is no way they could be offered an appropriate range of courses.
KCC appears to be trying to shift some of the blame on to The Canterbury Academy, which along with other popular schools has chosen to expand its numbers this year to meet popular demand. However, the bottom line is that this is neither relevant to the sharp decline in take up of places at Chaucer over the previous four years, nor the dramatic fall in first choices, culminating in the 26 for 2014 entry. This figure is lower than for any school in Kent for 2013 entry, bar the now closed Walmer Science College.
And so what happens next? Clearly, some parents will be pulling their children out of the school now, if they can find alternative school places, rather than wait for KCC to come up with alternatives, which will therefore become even more restrictive. This will actually mean that the school may implode as class sizes shrink, and some staff look for alternative posts at their earliest opportunity.
For the higher age groups, when the school was more popular, some children chose to travel long distances, for example from Thanet, to get to Chaucer. These will no doubt look to Thanet schools to absorb what may be much lower numbers. The one/only piece of good news is that according to KCC’s letter to parents, which you will find on the Chaucer Technology School website, they have secured agreements with other local schools (unspecified at present) to ensure places are available. The problem is that The Canterbury Academy, Archbishop’s School and St Anselm’s Catholic School are all either full, or nearly full. The problem is that KCC has no powers to allocate children, and must seek agreement. Two Canterbury District schools have significant vacancies: The Community College Whitstable, which has around 80 in each age group; and Spires Academy in Sturry, which has 30-40. There are also other schools with vacancies on the Swale side of Canterbury, from where the Chaucer has traditionally drawn some of its students. These are the Abbey School in Faversham and Sittingbourne Community School.
At the moment, KCC will therefore be looking for places for 237 children in Years 7-9 in these schools, and letters offering each child a school place for next September have now been sent out.
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What to do Next? Parents of students in Years 7-9 have a number of options.
NOTE: Whilst KCC is consulting on the closure as it is obliged to do, I can see no way in which the proposal to close the school can or will be reversed. |
Year 12 has special difficulties with some of the 37 students being part way through two year courses. KCC in the letter to parents, proposes to work with other Post 16 providers to attempt to offer continuity elsewhere. Year 11 will be able to look to start Sixth Form courses in other schools or Colleges.
That leaves the 40 children to be offered places in Year 7 at Chaucer next week. The decision to move to closure was made too late for them to be provided with alternatives now so they will be offered the Chaucer School as it is still technically open. I understand they will be given the opportunity to apply for an alternative school at the same time, to be considered through the re-allocation process, results of which are given on 23rd April - a long wait, I am afraid. Sadly, this is a heartbreaking situation, especially for the 26 who made the school their first choice.
Whilst I have tried to be factual in the main in this article, I do not under-estimate the understandable bitterness and rightful anger of many students, or their families who are affected. None of this is their fault, and they all now have the anxiety of whether or not they will get a decent education elsewhere in a school they never chose, but that is reasonable accessible and with an appropriate ethos (amongst the schools are two church schools which may present problems for some). Twice in my own career, I have been working in schools that have admitted students who had seen their schools taken from under them. I shall never forget their feelings that the education system had betrayed them, and many of the comments made beneath my previous article, and possibly this one in time, express similar feelings. Each of those comments is well worth reading, as I have read them. They identify different reasons for the calamity, but all reveal a similar vein of hurt and anger at someone. Sadly, I suspect that each of their targets bears some culpability for this dreadful, but inevitable, decision.
