Wokingham Need To Buy a Tape Measure

Wokingham need to purchase themselves a new measuring device.


A good friend has plotted the distances of the roads in Park South from Bulmershe and Maiden Erlegh to understand Wokingham's claim that South Park's children would have a shorter walk to school if they went to Bulmershe.


By comparing distances, he has found that, apart from one small part of the ward, every road is closer to Maiden Erlegh than Bulmershe.

So what can we conclude? Is Wokingham being malicious? Is it confused? Or does it need a more powerful tape measure........?

Tories, true colours seen

Now we know what Wokingham's Tories really think, with a rallying cry of Earley schools for Earley's children they bend the truth and try and exclude Reading's children. I especially like the part where they say that Park's children would have a shorter walk to Bulmershe, let me think, erm Melrose  to Maiden Erlegh, 10 min walk, to Bulmershe, 30-40mins.....or Hamilton Road to Maiden Erlegh, 20 min walk to Bulmershe 40-50mins... Lies, damn lies and Tory leaflets... I publish the leaflet for your amusement

What I suggest Park residents and parents of children at Alfred Sutton, St Peter's and other local schools do is that they phone the numbers of the councillors and the email of their office to complain.

Earley's Tory Councillors, and especially Paul Swaddle, who I used to consider a friend, you should be ashamed of yourselves. If you want to email the document to friends or back to their office, Pauline@Earleyconservatives.com you can download the document here

Maiden Erlegh Catchment - The Plot Thickens

Well, well, well Maiden Erlegh might be making the whole catchment issue more complicated by apparently applying for academy status. Above is an extract of the parents letter sent to all ME parents at the begining of this term. Dr Thomas, claims that the Governors are thinking about Academy status.

If granted the catchment area would remain the way it was if Academy status was granted, which could work on the side of the campaign. If they are just thinking about it, then the application would probably not affect what Wokingham is doing. If they have applied then this probably would affect things.

OK so far so good, however a quick search on the internet reveals that Maiden Erlegh appears to have already applied for Academy status and therefore may receive the status before the end of the process.

The details of the application can be found here to see the document click at this text:

A list of applications from mainstream schools to convert to academy status as of 31 August is available to download as a PDF document.

Its a bit complicated however you then need to use the search function to look for Maiden Erlegh.

So in conclusion what can we see:

a. The Head at Maiden Erlegh appears to be holding back on the truth about the application
b. The campaign needs to double its efforts to ensure that the catchment area doesn't change before Academy status is granted.

5 Reasons For Objecting to Wokingham's Proposals

Just come back from a very very good meeting made up of Parents from the area and Councillors.

The discussion ranged around the following points.

1. Would RBC support parents in their fight with Wokingham Borough Council.

2. What are the best objections to use in any letters to Wokingham

3. The next campaigning steps

Will RBC support parents ?

I am pleased to say that Ward Councillors seem to be behind parents. The lead councillor for Education was there and he promised to look at the issue closely. We the parents were very strong in our view that Reading must make a strong statement of support.

How should parents object ?

The meeting developed 5 reasons for objecting to the proposal. These are:

1. Maiden Erlegh currently serves an area that is made up of many cultures, religions and nationalities. The Wokingham plan seeks to exclude this area and therefore will prevent the school from reflecting the make up of the area in the immediate vicinity of the school.


2. The Wokingham plan misunderstands the geographical area of Erleigh. It claims that only the Wokingham side of the Erleigh crossroads is Erleigh, while both sides of the cross roads are part of Erleigh and have RG6 postcodes.

3. The proposal suggests the opportunity to have a shared catchment for both Maiden Erlegh and Bulmershe in the Wokingham area but not in the Reading area. This goes against logic and natural justice.

4. Most importantly the plan seeks to remove the children who live closest to the school for the benefit of those that live furthest away. In removing the Reading children, the plan attempts to stop children going to a school that they can walk to one where more children will be driven to.

5. The proposals seek to remove parental choice.


These can be found here

Next Campaigning Steps

The group had come up with an innovative way of informing and discussing the issue with the local community. They have proposed holding a "drop in" meeting where residents can ask questions and get help in understanding the consultation, which has been written in legalise. This date is still to be decided, but will probably be the week after next at the Park Church Hall. Will confirm when I know.

The Petition

Support for the petition continues to grow, as of 17.00 this evening we have received over 450 signatures. This figure continues to grow. I was pleased to see that Erleigh St Peter's school have publicised it and I hope that Alfred Sutton will do so as well.

Other

What was most interesting was a leaflet that the Tories had produced in Wokingham. It makes many claims but fundimentally argues Erleigh's schools are for Erleigh's children. Now we know what their real agenda is and now we see how hard we, parents, politicians and the schools, will have to fight to defeat this.