UK residents, please sign this petition.

The local council are trying to close my daughter's old secondary school, all their excuses for the closure are easily defeated, and they can't answer any sensible questions about the closure. To all appearances, they want to close the school and sell the land off to build houses on - I've heard suggestions that this is to try and 'shore up' their pension funds because they have spend lot's of money from it.

Deincourt isn't a highly successful school full of clever kids, most are well below average, and Deincourt take the ones that the other local schools are failing as well. They provide an excellent education, even for the lowest of the children, and the higher ones are well looked after as well. My daughter left there having passed 14 GCSE's, 7 were A's, 3 were A*, and 4 B's, and while there the school sent her to FIVE different universities for trial sessions.

It's a small school, and the teachers know the names of every single pupil there, many of the pupils who moved from the other local schools say that even having been at the other school for three years, not one single teacher even knew their name!.

The kids there are exceptionally well behaved, and the school has the lowest rates of truancy and exclusions in the county.

It's a nice school, and deserves to be saved, so if you're a UK resident, please sign the petition for the prime minister.

Thank you!.

**broken link removed**

Nigel, When you say local do you mean DCC?

What does you local councillor say?

https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/council/councillors/

Wish I could help. We have similar things going on around here, and trends in modern education are something I feel very strongly about.

Kinda messes with my long-term goal of going back to school to finish my degree so I can become a teacher. Schooling is underfunded, schools are being amalgamated and class sizes raised, and students are being passed without regard to how well they understand the subject matter. Not because of the teachers, but because of edicts from above that flunking a student might harm their self-esteem. Sheesh.

Anyway, good luck with your petition. The world needs more schools (a lot more schools) like the one you are trying to save.


Torben

UTMonkey said:

Nigel, When you say local do you mean DCC?

What does you local councillor say?

https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/council/councillors/

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It's the LA (Local Authority) used to be called the LEA (Local Education Authority), the council vote for the closure was held at Matlock, and the school (and anyone who wanted to attend) were supposedly allowed to be present to witness it. Deincourt parents and staff had buses arranged to take a suitable number of 'witnesses', and were waiting to hear when the meeting would be. The LA rang them at 10:26 to inform them the meeting was at 10:30 - giving them 4 minutes notice for a meeting ten miles away!. They then didn't even notify the school of the outcome, the local radio station (Peak FM) rang the school to ask for their comments on the closure!.

At the public meeting last Monday none of the local councillors (all labour party) were present, nor was the local MP (labout party), nor were two of the school governors (both strong labour party members), from what we can gather the labour party issued orders NOT to attend.

That is awful. I'll sign mate.

Wish i could help Nigel.

Hope you win the battle.

Pleased to add my name in support.

Sadly, school closure in the UK is becoming far too common.

British Expats can also sign and so I was happy to add my name.

Mike.

Thank you everyone!.

Signed.

All The Best.

Thats terrible!

Someone should see the Queen about this!

ericgibbs said:

Sadly, school closure in the UK is becoming far too common.

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What's the reason? Are they closing more small schools for "super" schools (large schools to consolidate resources)? Or is there some decline in youth population? I just don't buy the pension-padding-through-selling-off-property. I can't see that being in the best interest of a teachers union, to close schools and effectively reduce positions.

Think about it. It makes a lot more sense for them to re-work the extra space in schools, and then temporarily lease that space for extra money. I know it's what I'd do if I had extra real estate to spare. Selling arbitrarily leaves you at the mercy of the market, but renting keeps the reins in your hands. In the long run, it will save the school district a lot of money (while making it, too) to not have to re-build or re-buy schools in the future should student population demand more space.

If you can present smarter alternatives than the direction they've taken, it might add more weight to your petition. There should at least be conditions on how much percent a population can drop at a school before closures, and even then a given period in which initiatives for making use/money off any extra space ought to be explored.

Nigel I am with you Morally, being son of a teacher, i Know what a closure of an school, could mean. But I am an expat, being an Indian national.

All the best. Perhaps they could call for donations if need be to run and diversify for adding modern courses and summer classes for electronics and computer skills development etc.
But closure for the cause , you referred makes me sad,. Perhaps I had to face a similar situation towards the college where from I was graduated. Last year I went and gave a donation , small amount though.Sir.

Just signed it. good luck with your battle, i hate hearing what this government is doing to the country, they need to reassess their priorities.

Job done.
I hope it helps.

hi Hank,
Its all to do with cost cutting.

Most of our public utilities and services are overloaded and over budget.

We have a 'league table' mentality governing our country.
The paper work figures are being manipulated on order to appear to meet targets.

If the financial budget appears to balance, 'every thing is OK'.

I hate to say this, but I believe our country is in terminal decline.
I hope that time proves me wrong as I am still a patriotic Brit, despite these comments.

I've signed it.

They only closed our village school for children with severe learning difficulties last year so I know how you feel.

If the financial budget appears to balance, 'every thing is OK'.

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Oh, we take that one step further in Canada! Seems like every federal or provincial budget has resulted in a surplus the following year, supposedly meaning that all funding targets have been met, and yet the tax rate never seems to go down? The best was earlier this (fiscal) year when the Canadian dollar was growing stronger comparatively to the U.S. dollar, the federal finance minister was imploring private businesses in Canada to reduce their prices (the argument being that the stronger dollar ought to be able to buy more). I wonder if he'll carry the same attitude coming up to tax time this year? Should I expect a rebate to the tune of 20% or so (I don't know the exact figure, but it's high) over last year's taxes, minister? I'm not going to hold my breath on that one!

I hate to say this, but I believe our country is in terminal decline.

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Since you've taken the "pro" on that one, I'll try to balance it with the con: It's not all bad, either there or over here. For one, you're able to communicate instantaneously with people on the other side of the planet, for next to nothing (if you use the library - at home, etc is extra luxury). Your media options are greater than they've ever been. Your choice of consumer goods are greater, and their cost is lower.

Those advances are all private-sector related, but they spill over into the public sector, too (e.g. availability of a wider range of medical care or education products). What I believe both our countries are currently experiencing is the market and political effects of an aging population, particularly one that has a significantly expanded, 50+ demographic as the babyboomers hit retirement, kick the kids out, and figure out what to do with their top-end salaries, investments and/or pensions. As such, whereas the clout of that generation 30-40 years ago was represented politically (voting, demonstrations), now the same generation is making a bigger impact on markets. That's because now they have more money than they do a willingness to picket (pardon me, I have to go put on some Wilson Pickett...). The perogatives of politicians tends to reflect that change from protester to investor. Now they're not just influenced directly by Big Business, but also indirectly in that the majority of people supporting a winning candidate or party also stand to gain individually as shareholders in the various Big Business companies. Of course, that's going to influence the relative interest of government funded education or health care on a variety of levels.

Voters aren't going to want to elect a politician who'll compromise their individual investments for the sake of an education system their own family's children no longer use. They're not going to want to pay higher taxes if it means that money could have otherwise been spent on investments, either. People have always been able to recognize the individual importance of either the market or goverment initiatives, but their awareness, understanding, and involvement in both is a very new thing now compared to 25, 50, or 100 years ago.

It's a work in progress, and I think it's best for the populace to consider the importance not just of being an informed voter, but also an informed investor, if only to ensure the two are working harmoniously and are not at odds.

Nigel,
Look here:

**broken link removed**

If I heard the local TV news correctly this evening, the closures are going ahead.. I'll recheck

EDIT:
They are closing the 'middle' schools on the IOW

Wow. I have never noticed the number of U.K. residents here!