In a letter to parents of children in the area around Haverhill including Kedington, Suffolk County Council have opened consultations on proposals to move Kedington from the Catchment area of Castle Manor School to that of Samuel Ward. However the change could mean either the loss of free school buses for Kedington or the loss of school buses all together.In the consultation letter sent to parents this week Suffolk County Council say the changes, which will come in to effect from September 2011, will "aim to ensure that both colleges can continue to develop strong relationships and partnerships with identified primary schools." This indicates that the change is at least in part due to Kedington Primary moving from feeding into soon to be closed middle Schools to feeding direct to upper schools. The consultation document makes clear that the reason Kedington is to feed in to Samuel Ward is their policy to "Ensure, where possible, that the catchment school is closest to the student's home address."
Where as there have not been any strong objections to the principle of Kedington children going to Samuel Ward as opposed to Castle Manor, especially after being described as "An outstanding school" in a recent Ofsted report, several parents have reacted with dismay to the the document's proposals regarding school transport. Currently children attending Castle Manor have a free school bus to get them the 3.7 miles from Kedington. Suffolk County policy states that:
"Free transport will be available to those living more than three miles from their catchment area school and to those who qualify because of their low income status. Transport may be available, on a discretionary basis, to others who are not eligible for free transport provided that surplus places are available on transport provided by Suffolk County Council and parents are willing to pay."
The School bus stop in West End Lane is exactly 3 miles by road from Samuel Ward, but as the crow flies the whole of Kedington is under the 3 mile limit. This would mean that if Samuel Ward became our catchment area School not only would Suffolk not offer free bus transport to school but since they only offer paid for bus places in the event of spare capacity they would only need to run buses if Kedington's catchment school was more than three miles. If Castle Manor ceases to be Kedington's catchment school Suffolk will also shed responsibility to provide transport for students going there so there may not even be a bus for there to be "Spare capacity" on.
Even if there is a bus the current charge for half a term for one child is £80. That works out as £480 per year or for a family with 2 children £960. Since the catchment school will be Samuel ward this will be payable which ever school a pupil attends.
Further proposed changes would include a reduction in the Published Admission Number (The Number each school takes in per year) for both schools to 190 a drop of 5% for Samuel ward and 14.6% for Castle Manor. Suffolk says this is intended to "help to avoid an imbalance of student numbers between the two colleges.", but it is also a simple mathematical fact that it reduces parents ability to choose which school their child goes to. Even the council's own wording effectively means that this policy is to stop too many parents getting their child in to the most popular of Haverhill's schools. Where as it is inevitable that not all children can go to the most popular school in town this would be a deliberate reduction of choice.
In response to questions from KedingtonNews.co.uk a Suffolk County Council spokesperson said: "Suffolk like all other authorities will provide transport for parents in line with legal requirements. This basically means that all parents living further than three miles from their catchment school will be offered free transport for their child. Parents on low income will be entitled to free transport if they live two miles or more from their catchment school. However, where parents live less than the legally specified distances from the catchment school but feel the route is not safe for them to walk with their child they can lodge an appeal with the County Council's Schools Transport Committee. Parents can make this appeal as soon as they have a school place confirmed."
The spokesperson continued: "It is important to remember that these are options for consultation and therefore we would encourage all parents to consider the options for their area and respond before the consultation ends on 26 February 2010. All of the views received by that date will be considered before proposals are put to the County Council's Cabinet for its consideration."
Responses can be made on the consultation by the forms that have been sent out to all parents by Suffolk County Council. Alternatively you can respond by letter to :
Frank Stockley,
Access and Admissions,
Suffolk County Council,
West Suffolk House,
Western Way,
Bury St Edmunds,
Suffolk,
IP33 1RX
Email frank.stockley@suffolk.gov.uk
Or visit Suffolk County Council's website where you will also find the full consultation text.
Article and photography by M.P.Upton - 20/1/10
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