HELP PLS - free school process about to cause 'eviction' of current pupils

[Karuna13]

Hi

As you're probably aware the ex-independent school site (St Ursula's) has been bought by the local council and is now the subject of major political manoevering with 3 bids for Free Schools / Academies competing for this one site.

Different agendas from the D of E, local MPs, councillors and lobby groups seem to mean that the current pupils at the school are being overlooked and are in danger of being 'evicted' whichever bid eventually succeeds.

Many of the children at the school are only there because of the lack of places in any state alternative in their area and have been caught up in this uncertainty for the last year.

An epetition has been set up to show support for the current pupils to try to influence the council in their key meetings next Tuesday and Thursday.

I'm sure you can imagine the trauma and uncertainty this whole process has caused for families with children currently at the school.

If you could take a minute to sign the epetition at save2011.epetitions.net/ it would be hugely appreciated.

Many, many thanks.

I will definitely sign...this must be so awful for all pupils and parents involved

Cheers CHST - it is awful and unbelievable that such a short-sighted decision can be made. Thanks for your support.

what on earth do they expect the kids to do if they get evicted from the school? It's not like there are an abundance of options available to them. It's a disgrace. So sorry you are dealing with this.

So am I - it's an absolute nightmare - anything you can do to make others aware of the epetition and encourage them to sign would be fantastic, thanks CHST

have signed.

the kids at st ursulas have really been screwed over recently

Many thanks for your support Armadillo - you're right - that's just how it feels at the moment, and time's running out to try to salvage something from all this politicking (....please excuse the dubious spelling)

I have signed too. I really hoped that this would have been resolved before now and think it is really tough on the original St. Ursula's kids - especially those who are studying for GCSEs.
Also it's hard on the secondary teachers too - they had to reapply for their jobs at short notice last year and many of them will be unsure about their future too.

Its really sad what has happened to the children in the private school at St Ursula's. Firstly due to a decline in numbers at the school and bad management, it went bankrupt. Then a church group took over (on a one year lease), making promises to everyone that have turned out to be marketing spin and dropped our kids like so much dead weight. We are left with the council only wanting a primary school, due to a 'supposed' primary crises, of their own making. And most other parents in the local area pushing for the Bristol Free School to provide a sustainable secondary school.

One of the sad things is that over the past year a group of parents from our school have taken over the 'agenda' and made the situation worse but they did not represent everyone from Oasis Westbury. There were opportunities to cooperate in creating a solution for all involved but due to the hard line and bullying tactics of these parents the chance has now passed. The council don't seem to want any secondary education on the site and refuse to cooperate with the New Free School so the chance of an all through school is zero. There is no other realistic options on the table.

I don't know much about the Free School, apart from what I read in the Evening Post etc, but it seems that they have put together a professional team of educational experts, with enough financial backing and support to make a local secondary really successful. Above all we need something that is going to work and if we cobble together another under funded, short term, stop gap we will have this problem again and again. With all these points in mind I have bitten the bullet and decided to take my child out of the school and finish primary in one of the other private schools in the area. I have looked around a few and am shocked at how little I got for my money in Oasis Westbury.

I came to this decision because I do not want to put my child through any more of this nonsense and even if Oasis ended up running a Primary on the site, after the lies they have told I do not want them educating my child, I most certainly would never have sent them to Brightstowe. In a few years I will apply to the new Free School and hopefully wont have to work the second job forever! I have signed the "all through" petition but I have come to realise, all that effort is not being directed properly, why not try and campaign for something achievable And can the Parents group please stop bullying all the other parents, you don't speak for them all!

cj666 - that is the mose balanced, sensible summing up of the situation I have heard from anyone, on whatever "side". I'm sorry you are having to put your children through more upheaval but in your position I would be taking them out too.
I too am hopeful that the Bristol Free School will end up being able to provide much needed secondary places on the site - ideally alongside a primary provider, but the council seem determined to not let it happen.
The worst case scenario is that Oasis Westbury will close in July and no school will operate on the site in Sept. That would be an appalling waste of an obvious opportunity and the council will have only themselves to blame.

I agree with cj666 that things have been difficult for parents - part of the issue has been the lack of information from the Dept of Ed and elsewhere around what's actually been happening.

Now there IS some concrete information and a real will by a v broad base of parents to look at what IS achievable - by talking to Bristol City Council and Bristol Free School to look at how a solution can be found to benefit everyone.

It's heartbreaking to think that people would be willing to sacrifice the 130 existing pupils (many of whom are at the school because of their particular support needs and so can't be easily accommodated elsewhere) in order to drive through their own ends when it's got to be possible to achieve both.

So, please do whatever you can to raise the profile of this issue and help councillors and others realise these children DO matter and can't be so easily cast aside. As runoutofideas says we're now in a position where time is running short if something is going to be resolved and up and running for September.

The petition is still live at save2011.epetitions.net/

Many thanks