Thoughts on merging of New Kings and Sulivan?

[sharlyn74]

I saw the proposal online today and was quite surprised as this was the first I was hearing of it. We toured Sulivan last week and really liked the warm and nurturing feel of the school.

hi there. yes, it has been a huge shock to the whole school community to say the least..you are absolutely right, we felt exactly the same the moment we walked into Sulivan, it is both warm and nuturing. It has so many strengths as a school, the fantastic leadership by Miss.Aldridge and the rest of the teaching staff... i just cannot sing their praises enough. I have 4 children who attend ranging from nursery through to year 5. The very idea of closing down a school with as much going for it as Sulivan does, a school that is continuing to go from strength to strength, a school which has such fantastic grounds (including the lovely nature garden!), has a wonderful music department, gives as many opportunities as it does for children to participate in events and competitions outside of school, has such effective teaching staff, has an enormously warm & inclusive community spirit to it (which is really felt every morning when you walk into the playground - no cliques here), & which continues to rise in popularity....i am honestly clueless...the proposal is nothing short of ridiculous..

Hi, this has been a huge shock to parents, teachers at Sulivan Primary and teachers at most schools in the borough.

The school is not the smallest in the area, in fact I think it has around the average student numbers in the borough for primary schools; in fact its numbers are on the increase due to the fact that the school is a good school that has been improving year in year out according to Ofsted. I too have had 4 children go through the school, 2 of which are still there. The facilities are amongst the best as mentioned above and the teachers are doing a great job.

The school is in great hands and good condition, it needs a minimal spend on it to ensure it will be standing for at least the next 50 years.

The council facts seem to be very biased towards the merger. I think there is some bias towards a local private school near South Park who want a secondary school they can feed too. In fact the merger will not be to make a community school, New Kings has applied to be an academy and they can pick and choose who will work there so the head teacher and staff of Sulivan could all be out of work.

The council have clearly planned this consultation period to coincide with the summer holiday so that any action and campaigns will be harder to organise.

What school is safe from closure in the borough even if they are good and improving by Ofsted standards and provide such a good environment and opportunities for their students?

Please show your support to keep Sulivan as a community school here: www.lbhf.gov.uk/Directory/Education_and_Learning/Schools_and_Colleges/Primary_schools/181907_New_Kings_and_Sulivan_primary_schools_proposals_1.asp