Saturday 20 March 2010

Dismay at decision to close St Peter's School at South Bank

News that St. Peters school on Normanby Road, South Bank, will definitely close has been greeted with dismay by local Liberal Democrat prospective MP Ian Swales.

Ian Swales said: "The St Peters school closure is a devastating blow to the local community in South Bank. I was at the public meeting on 23 February and was very moved by the passion shown by pupils, former pupils, teachers, parents and others over the future of the school. So many people attended that the oriignal venue at Eston Learning Centre was far too small. The adjudicator seemed to be listening but in the end has taken no notice of local feelings.

"This decision is driven by the Government's "Building Schools for the Future" programme. Even though St Peters is one of the most successful schools in the Borough it has had to go under the "one size fits all" policy. The Council had proposed alternatives to the department of education in London which were rejected. Now it's a London based adjudicator who has decided the school must go.

"Under Labour it's Whitehall that makes all the decisions. It's time to put the "Local" back into Local Government. We should trust people to know what's best for their own communities."

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