This in from Chris Whitehouse, in his own words. Ed
In a statement today, Cllr Chris Whitehouse (Newport West), has pointed out that the way in which the policy is drafted means that children from atheist, agnostic, and other faith families who want to attend Carisbrooke College could in future be forced to apply to Christ the King College, the Island’s Christian high school.
Cllr Whitehouse says,
“The Independent Administration has proposed that in future free travel to high schools will only be provided to a student’s “nearest” high school, provided that school is more than three miles from the student’s home.
“But, that definition of “nearest”, officers have confirmed, is measured as the bus drives rather than crow flies. This means that for many children in the West Wight Christ the King is their nearest high school because the bus drives up Wellington Road, Newport, in my ward, past Christ the King, to get to Carisbrooke College.”
The practical effect of the rule change, warns Cllr Whitehouse is that,
“In future, children in the West Wight, if they wanted to benefit from free school travel to Carisbrooke College, would first have to apply for a place at Christ the King College even though they don’t want to attend it and even though they may not meet its entrance conditions. Only when they are turned down by Christ the King could they then ask for free travel to Carisbrooke. What is worse, children from atheist, agnostic or other faith families who definitely don’t want to attend Christ the King might find themselves forced to apply there and be admitted under the provisions of their community places scheme! This would be Kafkaesque and completely bizarre, you just couldn’t make it up.”
He goes on to say,
“The new rules would also, of course, lead to Christ the King College devoting huge resources to processing large numbers of pointless applications.
“I tried to explain this to Cllr Richard Priest at a meeting of the Scrutiny Committee as long ago as 5th June, but I fear he didn’t understand the point and went ahead with publishing the paper regardless. Hampshire officers have now been very helpful in spending time with me and confirming my understanding is correct. Hopefully, the Independents will listen to commonsense and find a way of respecting the rights of those families who choose not to have a Christian education for their children.”
The Councillor also registered concern about changes to provision for support for students aged 16 and over,
“At a time when we are seeking to encourage as many youngsters as possible to continue their education and training, it does seem unfortunate that the Independent Administration is proposing to remove assistance in future with the costs of travel for this important group.”
Full details in the document below. Click on the full screen icon to see larger version.
