Wyre Forest Education Review
Letter to the Parish Magazine -
June 2005
"Dear Editors,
We would like to bring to the attention of your readers an anomaly in the Draft Parish
Plan regarding the number of children attending the Village School from within the Parish.
Under the heading ‘Education and Young People’ it states “19 children attend the village
school” . We would like to point out that this figure was obtained from a 42% response
rate to the survey and is inaccurate.
The School Secretary has provided the following analysis:
Number of children in school - 120
Children living in the Parish of Chaddesley Corbett - 45
Families with strong connections with the Parish - 11
In July the School will be losing 11 pupils from the Parish but in September 15 pupils from
the Parish will be joining the School.
A request has been made to the Clerk to the Steering Group to clarify the statement in
the final published plan."
Yours sincerely
Chris Rowberry – Chairman of Trustees of the Educational Foundation
Hugh Richards – Chairman of Governors
A meeting was held in early May at County Hall, Worcester between three officers
of the Local Education Authority (LEA) and four representatives of the Educational
Foundation.
After a preamble explaining what had taken place so far, and confirmation of the
Schools Organisation Committee decision to finally proceed with the change in Wyre Forest from three to two tier (as printed in May issue of the Parish
Magazine), the senior representative of the LEA stated that, following a feasibility
assessment, the LEA is of the opinion that a one form entry Primary School on the
current First School site in Chaddesley Corbett is not viable to satisfy educational
requirements.
It was stated that the Wyre Forest District Council (WFDC) planning authority have
been advised by the LEA of the general consequences of reorganisation and are aware of the situation regarding Chaddesley Corbett. There has, as yet, been no
discussion with County Highways.
As a Voluntary Aided School it was stated that the Foundation, and not the County
LEA, would be responsible for the design of the school and would have to gain any
planning permission. There were certain stipulated criteria in a design in order to
obtain Department of Education and Science (DFES) funding and the LEA would work closely with the appointed architects and the Foundation to maximise
funding from the DFES and other bodies. It was suggested that as soon as possible the Foundation should appoint an architect and then enter into
discussions with the Officers of the WFDC Planning department to establish a site,
or sites, which would satisfy the necessary Planning criteria.
The Foundation identified three Architect Practices which have experience in the
building of schools in Worcestershire and have received presentations and carried
out interviews, following which the Trustees have appointed Boughton Butler of Sansome Walk,
Worcester.
Details of the practice can be found on their website www.boughtonbutler.co.uk
On 20th January the Worcestershire County Council, being the Local
Education Authority, gave notice that it intended to:- discontinue, according to section 29 (1) of the School Standards and Framework Act
1998, Chaddesley Corbett Endowed First School (Voluntary Aided).
In the official notice the following statement was also printed:-
The Chaddesley Corbett Educational Foundation in accordance with section 28 (2) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 intends
to establish a new Voluntary Aided primary school for up to 210 boys and girls aged 5-11 at The
Village, Chaddesley Corbett, Kidderminster, DY10 4SD occupying the same buildings as the current Chaddesley
Corbett Endowed First School with temporary additional accommodation made available while options for a new site for a
purpose built primary school are explored. The number of children to be admitted at age 5 in September 2007 and subsequent years will be 30.
The Chaddesley Corbett Educational Foundation had previously been notified of the Local Education Authority’s intention to close the existing
endowed First School and reopen a Primary School on the current site to serve the rural area to the north of Kidderminster and, in October 2004,
representatives of the Trust attended a meeting with representatives of the Local Education Authority (LEA) to hear their proposals.
The Foundation was given the option to agree, or not, to the new Primary School being voluntary aided and, as the main objective of the Foundation is
the school, they stated that they wished the new school to be endowed by the Foundation. The Trustees strongly believe that their involvement is
extremely important to ensure the interests of Chaddesley Corbett Village specifically and the community generally are given prime consideration in
any changes implemented by the LEA. The Trust has made it very clear to the LEA that in their opinion an extension to the current site to enable two
extra year groups is not feasible without a plan to manage the additional traffic and consequential parking problems. It is following pressure from the
Trust that the LEA agreed to an addendum in their published statement regarding the exploration of options for a new site.
On 11th April the Schools Organisation Committee met and ratified the decision of the Worcestershire County Council to accept the proposals of the
Wyre Forest Review so the green light has now been officially given and plans can be firmly laid for the future.
As the future of the school in Chaddesley Corbett is of considerable importance to the future of Chaddesley Corbett itself the Trustees of the
Educational Foundation intend to keep all interested parties informed by reporting progress and decisions regularly in the Parish Magazine and on the
Chaddesley Corbett web-site at www.chaddesley-corbett.co.uk
If at any time a Parishioner has constructive comments to make they are encouraged to write to
Mrs M Green,
Clerk to the Chaddesley Corbett Educational Foundation,
Southlands,
The Pound,
Bluntington,
Chaddesley Corbett
DY10 4QL
in order that their comments can be communicated to the Trustees.
