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."