FALLING PUPIL CASE FLAWED

14 July 2005

I believe that Swansea LEA's projected figures for falling numbers at Dylan Thomas school are currently flawed. It is claiming that there are 1,500 children within the catchment area who could attend the school. However, the school can only accommodate 652 pupils. This means that 848 pupils (1,500 minus 652) physically cannot attend Dylan Thomas and would have to go elsewhere. The pupil numbers at Dylan Thomas are already rising because of its good reputation. These numbers would be further enhanced with a bus service between the Quadrant and the school on a twice-daily basis (8am and 3pm).

I understand that Olchfa school has applied to have its pupil numbers reduced because it believes that rolls in excess of 2,000 are unmanageable. If this is the case, why would Bishop Gore want to spend £7 million to enable it to accommodate 2,350 pupils?

Oversized schools result in unmanageable classes, unaccounted-for absences, limited access for the disabled and subsequent lack of inclusion. Added to this is traffic management which, in the case of Sketty, is horrendous.

At a recent public meeting, when asked how the children presently at Dylan Thomas school would get to Bishop Gore, Anthony O'Sullivan, the council's spokesman on transport, declared that they could walk to school crocodile-fashion (when did he last talk to a 14-year-old?), or cycle - imagine 500 cyclists descending on Sketty Cross every morning and evening.

It is obvious that nothing about the school closure proposal has been thought through (or maybe just the thought of votes in Sketty).

R Lowe, Cwm Cadle, Portmead, Swansea