Friday 19 March 2010

St Tudy school

St Tudy SchoolSt Tudy is a lovely village with a charming primary school - but charm is a two-edged sword. Although Ofsted says the school is "Good" it was built in 1864 and fails to meet many of the standard requirements of the 21st century. It has no hall, library, room for Special Educational Needs or staff room; its three class rooms are all undersize and the only play area is across a road.

It is largely for these reasons that Cornwall Council's education officials have labelled it the "second worst" primary school in the county (out of 237.) It currently has 67 pupils - although 32 of them live outside the designated catchment area.

A plan to combine the school with neighbouring St Mabyn village, by building on a new site at Longstone, provoked a furious "hands off" local campaign which forced county hall to abandon the idea.

Next week councillors have to start dealing with the harsh realities of charming small schools. Officials have presented five options in respect of St Tudy, none of which please local villagers. Option Five is to do nothing and risk a poor Ofsted inspection at some point in the future. St Tudy's school governors are disputing the way officers have presented the case and believe a new school could be built, within the village, within the £1.3m budget.

One fact which tends to get overlooked is that Cornwall currently has 5,000 surplus primary school places. Hence the council's "Primary Strategy for Change" which encourages clustering, federating and sharing staff and resources between schools. The cost-per-child in a small rural school can be as much as £15,000 per year; compared with only £2,500 in a large urban school. So town taxes subsidise pretty villages. I forecast quite a rumpus in the weeks and months ahead.

(Declaration of interest: I live in a neighbouring village and my own children attended the local primary school.)

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