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‘Council to close school to save face’
Emma Fitzgerald26/10/2006
A HEADTEACHER, fighting to save his school, believes its planned closure is to make sure the new multi-million pound Harrop Fold High School is not a financial embarrassment to the council.
Harrop Fold - created from an amalgamation of Joseph Eastham and Little Hulton high schools - is currently spread over two sites, but is set to be replaced with a new building on one site using Private Finance Initiative cash.
The school will cater for 1,200 pupils but currently has less than 1,000 on its roll and campaigners for St George's RC High School in Walkden, which is next to the site of the new Harrop Fold, believe that's the real reason behind the proposed closure.
Headteacher Philip Harte raised the issue at a meeting of the full council last week.
He asked councillors: "If the school does not reach that number on roll, is it true that school becomes poor value for money and that by closing St George's, thereby forcing pupils to attend Harrop Fold, it would be very expedient for the council? Is this not the main reason for closing St George's?"
But Mr Harte is unhappy with the response he received.
He said: "John Merry spoke in Councillor John Warmisham's absence but although he spoke, he didn't necessarily answer my questions. He said the plans for our school have nothing to do with Harrop Fold.
"Now we don't want to get into a slanging match with anybody and we're not going to suggest closing any other school because we believe when it comes to schools there is strength in numbers."
He added: "One of the things that Councillor Merry did say was that if money was to go to St George's then that would mean less for everybody else. But that's very unfair."
Councillor Merry said: "The fact is, our proposals for St George's have nothing to do with Harrop Fold. We have the chance to bid for £110 million which we have never had before and which we might never have again.
"Our job is to make the most effective use of this finite amount of money for all the schoolchildren in this city, in a way that satisfies local people and which is credible to the Government.
"We will listen to the arguments that St George's should stay open, and we will seriously consider what people are telling us. But don't pretend that decision can be taken without affecting all the other schools in this city."
Councillor John Warmisham, the city's cabinet member for education, said it would 'not be cost effective' to try to refurbish or remodel the existing St George's.
He added pupil numbers are declining and will reduce further over the next decade, particularly because the Roman Catholic Diocese is amalgamating three primary schools into one in Little Hulton due to falling numbers.
He said: "We don't feel it is sensible to maintain two high schools so close to one another, as there won't be enough pupils in that area to sustain both.
"The situation with funding for Harrop Fold is the same as for any other school. The more pupils they get, the more grant they get, but the more it costs them to deliver the curriculum.
"If they fail to recruit pupils up to their limit, they will not receive as much grant. It is true surplus places at Harrop Fold will have to be funded under the PFI arrangements, but if this was our major concern we would have proposed the closure of St George's in two years time rather than 2011."
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23/11/2006 at 13:02