OnTheWight always welcomes a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers – unsurprisingly they don’t always reflect the views of this publication. If you have something you’d like to share, get in touch and of course, your considered comments are welcome below.
This from Kirsty Matthews, a parent of a pupil at Godshill Primary School. Ed
I am writing as a parent going through a second school closure process in less than two years.
Chillerton and Rookley Primary School was closed in 2022. My child was a pupil at this school and was transferred to Godshill Primary School along with some of the staff.
Myself and other parents at this time received a letter from the Director of Children’s Services promising that their children’s primary school education would not be disrupted again (see below).
Only just starting to feel settled
My child is only just starting to feel settled in their new school and accept Godshill as their own.
In the initial pre-consultation meeting for the current school closure proposals, the panel were shocked to see this letter and said they were unaware of this or the history of the closure process. This is completely unacceptable.
Despite excuses that this is a new team who had not dealt with previous closures, this should have been researched as part of their pre planning.
Meeting offered after the consultation period
In this meeting on 3rd October, Ashley Whittaker promised me he would respond the next week.
Despite following this up from both parents and staff, Ashley passed this task onto other people in his team and despite repeated correspondence from Godshill, the parents of former Chillerton and Rookley were not offered a meeting until 7th November, crucially this was after the consultation process had ended.
When the timing was questioned, half-term was used as an excuse, however the consultation process also ended during half-term and this was not deemed to be an issue. There was enough time to have arranged that meeting to take place before the holidays began.
More questions than answers
We walked away from this meeting with yet more questions and very few answers. The panel also used our meeting time to ask us what had been discussed with parents and staff during the closure process.
All this should be available to the council to find for themselves and should not need parents to supply it for them.
The history and the closure should be fully documented and available to the panel not only for historical reference but to use as a guide for future school closures.
Ashley has said numerous times about how he had spoken to Chillerton and Rookley parents during this consultation, however we are yet to find any record of these meetings or the parents involved.
Broken promise
Other parents at Godshill Primary are rightly concerned that breaking this promise to us will mean there is no further trust with the council around the current closure process and that their word and documentation holds no worth.
We believe that by delaying our correspondence and then only meeting with a few parents and not Godshill as a whole, they are trying to hide what has happened and delay it long enough that it passes the cabinet vote on 12th December.
Disregard for the concerns
All of these delayed responses suggest disregard for the concerns raised in our 29th November 2022 letter regarding the Chillerton and Rookley closures and the assurance that Godshill arrangements would remain in place for the affected pupils’ primary education.
Other questions by the public have been answered regarding questions on the process, but ours have been delayed or ignored.
Other commitments may be violated
We are seriously concerned that if this promise was broken, other commitments related to the proposed closures, or future closures, may also be violated.
This pattern of disrupting our children’s education is unacceptable and raises concerns about the council’s trustworthiness.
I urge the council and the school place planning team to take this into consideration when voting on Thursday and that the voting councillors will make the right decision for our children who have already been through this so recently.
