UNDER-THREAT SCHOOL HAS BEEN NAMED A CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE

26 October 2005

Swansea's under-threat Dylan Thomas school has been awarded a top gong for its modern approach to teaching. The Cockett comprehensive, which looks set for closure in 2007, has become just the second school in Wales to be named a Promethean Centre of Excellence.

Its teachers were praised for their work in "integrating information communication technology in teaching and learning".

Most have now been given individual awards for excellence which helped gain the overall award from school inspectors.

School governor Dereck Roberts said only one other school in Wales currently held the title, and only three other schools in Wales had ever achieved it.

"Our staff development officer Lynette Johnson, together with English teacher Joan Garrard, was the first to achieve the level three certification and has encouraged all our staff to participate," he said.

"Now at least four other staff have level two certificates and most staff have achieved level one or above. This is a very good achievement."

Dylan Thomas Community School has been earmarked for closure under Swansea Council's school reorganisation plan.

But parents, staff and school governors have launched a fight to keep it open, saying Dylan Thomas is a successful school which plays a vital part in community life.

Mr Roberts, who is chairman of the board of governors, said: "We will receive a plaque for presentation and teaching staff will receive their awards later this year.

"The school's first interactive whiteboard came from a Welsh Assembly initiative, and they launched broadband in Swansea from the school.

"We will be asking for representatives from the Assembly to come to the school to make the presentations."

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

25 October 2005

Closure-threatened Dylan Thomas school has splashed out thousands of pounds on a new performing arts studio.

The Cockett school is only the second in Swansea to offer children the chance to take a GCSE in performance arts. Lynne MacKay, head of music, said: "It will offer pupils the chance to look at all aspects of performing arts.

"The school is working with Swansea College and Gorseinon College so that the courses they run fit with ours."

Dylan Thomas school has been under threat of closure for months. Swansea Council hopes to transfer children from the school to Bishop Gore. The cost of reorganisation is expected to be in the region of £20 million.

Mrs MacKay said: "This shows we are still fighting. As far as we are concerned, the school is still open."

PARENTS WORRIED OVER SCHOOL'S REFIT

24 October 2005

Parents at Bishop Gore Comprehensive School are the latest to question Swansea Council's plans for school reorganisation in the city. The school has been earmarked for a £20 million refurbishment.

Council leaders are pushing for the revamp so that Dylan Thomas School can be closed.
If the plans are passed, pupils from Dylan Thomas will eventually be transferred to the Bishop Gore site.

However, the multi-million pound refit would take around four years to complete.
In the meantime the council is proposing that both schools are kept open.

The council has now started consultations with parents, staff and governors from both schools.
West Cross councillor and parent at Bishop Gore Mark Child said that parents were not happy with the latest proposal.

He said: "The £20 million spend on Bishop Gore will be fantastic for the school in the long term.

"I have concerns over the transition phase, though.

"It's going to have to be done in such a way so that money being spent at Bishop Gore is not wasted.

"If there is going to be disruption then parents could think it is not worth the bother and pick other schools."

Mr Child said parents had also expressed concerns about how the schools will be run while the work is being completed.

All new intake pupils will be schooled at the Dylan Thomas site.

Higher years would be split between both sites, with children remaining where they are at present.

Mr Child said: "One of the main issues is transport. Some parents will have children at both schools and so getting them there in the mornings would be a problem.

"There could be cases where parents are having to get children to three different sites if they also have children at primary school.

"There are questions about how pupils will integrate together.

"My own main concern is how do we build the school ethos if pupils are on two sites.

"Then parents are also worried that the school will be too big."

Parents at Dylan Thomas School have already met with council officials.

They have been fighting closure plans since they were announced. Many walked out of their meeting before its conclusion.

They are hoping to sideline the proposals by taking the issue to the Welsh Assembly.

Mike Day, Swansea Council's cabinet member for education, said that concerns would still be listened to.

"These were important meetings and were held partly as a response to the last report on the proposals that went to cabinet in August.

"Cabinet decided that the council should invest £20 million in a 21st Century school at Bishop Gore, but this would require a transition phase, during which one school would operate on the two sites while the work went ahead.

"I want to stress to those who take part in this consultation on the transition phase, that just as their feedback influenced the last report to cabinet, so their feedback will influence the next one."

RESIDENTS FIGHT TO STOP SCHOOL PLAN

21 October 2005

Residents fighting proposals for a new Welsh medium school in Swansea are calling for opponents to make their voices heard. Swansea Council has put forward plans to build the new school in West Cross Avenue.

It would be the new home for Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Llwynderw, which is currently based in temporary classrooms at Bishop Gore School.

A two-month consultation period is now coming to an end. The school has long been on the wish list of parents wanting more Welsh medium education in Swansea.

But locals say it is in the wrong place and are now urging people to show their opposition to the plans.

Margaret Ellis has lived in neighbouring West Cross Lane for 43 years and says the road is busy enough without adding the traffic from a new school.

She said: "It is ridiculous what they are proposing. It is a huge school and West Cross Lane is one of the busiest roads in Swansea.

"Plus the loss of the trees and hedges would be catastrophic.

"We are sending a letter to the director of education, which is what we've been asked to do if we oppose the plans. The trouble is that people don't like putting pen to paper."

Mrs Ellis said the footprint of the school was too small to accommodate the proposals. It would be next to the existing St David's RC Primary School which her grandson attends.

She said many residents shared her concerns and asked them to voice their opposition."On many grounds we think it is not a good site and we think another should be found," she said.

"The longer it goes down the line, the more money we waste and time to find a proper site for this school.

"We should be writing again but people think if they wrote once then that is enough."

A spokesman for Swansea Council said the consultation period ended on November 5 and objections had to be made in writing.

He added: "If there are any objections to the proposals, the whole matter will be sent to the Assembly and a decision will be made by the Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning.

"That decision would not be expected before spring next year."

PARENTS STAGE WALK-OUT

20 October 2005

Angry parents have walked out of a meeting with senior council officers in Swansea after being told of plans for their school. Parents at Dylan Thomas school left the meeting en masse as the council's senior education officer was summing up proposals for the school's future.

Council leaders are proposing to close Dylan Thomas school and transfer pupils to Bishop Gore after a £20 million revamp. However, parents believe the deal will see their children's education suffer.Many are now threatening to pull their children out of the school after listening to council officers' plans for the future.

Rob Lowe, chairman of the Dylan Thomas Parents Action Group, said parents would refuse to send children to Bishop Gore.

He said: "We put it to them that we would put our children in different schools."We do not want to send them to Bishop Gore under the new plans because we think it will be too big. We put that to the officers at the meeting, but they could not explain how their plans would stand up with 500 fewer pupils."

Mr Lowe said parents would fight on."The next step is to consult with ourselves. We will talk to residents in the area and other users of the school.

"There will be an official objection lodged and that means the final decision will go to the Assembly.

"We're confident we can win that, but if we don't then we will take children out of the school.

"The overwhelming majority of parents do not wish it to come to this but they feel they are being forced into it."

School governors are also setting out a response to the council's latest plans. Chairman Dereck Roberts said: "We are working on a formal response to the meeting.

"We are fundamentally opposed to what they are planning to do."

Mr Roberts said governors would be asking to see the consultation documents used by the council to come to the decision.

Staff were told there were no guarantee about jobs.

Cabinet member for education Mike Day said: "Staff expressed concerns about their jobs and it was explained that, as cabinet has not yet made any decision about its views on the proposed closure of Dylan Thomas, we can't be specific about the plans.

"What I can say is that the council will be working very closely with the governing bodies of Bishop Gore and Dylan Thomas Community School to minimise job losses.

"I want to stress to those who take part in this consultation on the transition phase that just as their feedback influenced the last report to cabinet, so their feedback will influence the next one.

PARENTS THREATEN TO BOYCOTT MEETING

15 October 2005

Parents at a Swansea school earmarked for closure have threatened to boycott a meeting on its future. Swansea Council has called the meeting with parents and staff at Dylan Thomas Community School to discuss the proposals for its closure.
If the plans are given the go-ahead, council leaders will keep the school open for around five years while Bishop Gore school has a £20 million refit.
The meeting with parents is due to be held at the school on Tuesday, but parents are worried they have not been given enough information.
However, the council says that this first meeting is to inform parents about the plans.
Rob Lowe, parent governor at the school, said that details of the meeting came too late for them to prepare fully.
The agenda and proposals were sent to the school on Friday.
Mr Lowe said: "The new proposal regarding the change over wasn't published until Friday.
"The council did not send them out to parents and so it was down to the school to photocopy and send them back with pupils.
"The meeting has been called for Tuesday and in all likelihood many parents will not get to see the proposals until Monday. That is not enough time for us to fully understand what will be a fairly complex document.
"It's their meeting, they have called it and have facts. We will probably not find out what the full proposals are until the day before.
"It's supposed to be our chance to ask questions about the transition period, but we will not have all the information.
"The only thing I can think is that they are deliberately trying to keep parents in the dark so that we can't ask any tricky questions.
"It looks like a case of divide and rule.
"Our only option may be to boycott the meeting because we do not have the information we need."
Fellow parent Sheila Lewis said: "The administration is insulting our intelligence. How do they expect parents to consult by Tuesday?"
A council spokesman said today: "Parents, teachers, governors and pupils at Dylan Thomas Community School and Bishop Gore school will have ample time to consider this consultation on the transition phase.
"The purpose of the meetings is to give information about the transition phase. The closing date for feedback on the consultation is not until November 16. Therefore those who wish to comment will have almost a month to prepare and return their comments to the council following the meeting.
"Cabinet will consider the feedback in December and will decide at that time whether or not to proceed with the proposals."

SCHOOL: COUNCIL SAYS IT LISTENS

4 October 2005

Council leaders have hit back at claims they are not listening to parents over proposed school closures in Swansea.

Parents from Dylan Thomas Community School reacted angrily to the council's announcement that a new round of consultations would not take into account views on closure. They say that the first consultation, which was held in June and July, was for a completely different proposal.

Since then the council has changed the scheme from a £7 million refurbishment of Bishop Gore comprehensive to a £20 million spend at the school. Education advisory committee chairman Nick Tregoning said that parents, staff and governors had already been heavily consulted on their fears over the possible closure of Dylan Thomas school.

He said: "It is remarkable that anyone can claim the council is not consulting and not listening.

"The fact is that the council is listening to pupils, parents, teachers unions, governors, councillors, AMs and many others with an interest in the future of education in Swansea.

"The council has received submissions from Dylan Thomas school and staged meetings there to listen to views of all those with an interest in it.

"However, Rob Lowe, a parent governor at Dylan Thomas school, said that parents were not happy.

"We have been consulted on the first set of plans. That was for £7 million to be spent on Bishop Gore and the closure of Dylan Thomas. "They changed that and are now planning to spend £20 million on it. We have not had a chance to consult on those proposals.

"It's a bit of a mixed bag really because we have had the chance to talk about the closure but not on what it's going to cost under the new proposal. We think that is crucial.

"How have they come up with the figure of £20 million? We have not seen any plans for the refurbishment."

The council's current proposal would see a five-year improvement plan for Bishop Gore school.

When that is complete, pupils from Dylan Thomas school would be transferred and the school closed.

The consultation will run from October 14 and will look at the transition period between work starting and the proposed closure of the school.