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Letter: Incorrect figures
FURTHER to your article in last week’s paper, as a Southwater parent, I was immensely relieved to learn that HCT/Oasis have admitted that their figures about projected pupil intake were incorrect and that there ARE sufficient places for our children at the existing secondary schools and there is no urgent need for an additional school in Southwater.
It does concern me, however, that the figures given out at the consultation meetings by HCT/Oasis were stated with such conviction that many parents may have been scared into supporting this proposal where they might not otherwise have done, had they known the truth.
Whilst I do appreciate that HCT/Oasis perhaps misunderstood the situation themselves, they were responsible for relating this information to parents and I do hope that they will honour their moral obligation to contact all parents who have signed up to their proposed school application and give them the opportunity to either continue with, or withdraw their support for the proposal, once they’ve been given the accurate information.
I understand that the closing date for the application is February 24, so they do have sufficient time to do this, but even if it meant missing this particular deadline I think that would be preferable than submitting an application which was supported in good faith by parents based on inaccurate information.
I fear that if they fail to do the right thing now the credibility both of this proposal and HCT/Oasis as a trustworthy provider will be irreparably damaged.
S. BLANCH
Roundstone Park, Southwater
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Weather for Horsham
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 14 C to 26 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
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Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
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Wind direction: North east
Comments
There are 2 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
RH12David
Sunday, February 26, 2012 at 12:44 AMI am not sure whether I should take personally the five-day 'Pending Moderation' delay on my previous comment which may never be seen. As the <County Times> reports this week, the situation has changed. In going forward, let us hope that accurate data underpins any continuing representations for a Southwater secondary school. And let us also hope that Horsham Churches Together does more to test the opinions of Horsham and district Christian worshippers before it associates with the overtly party political free school scheme, which is funded out of 'savings' from cancelling scores of building projects that were to be funded from the Building Schools for the Future initiative. May any future aspirations for a Southwater school have WSCC at the heart of the planning process and may the head teachers of our excellent local schools be fully consulted and involved in any such plans. Lessons need to be learned from this debacle.
RH12David
Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 12:04 PMVery well put. The absence of credibility actually runs much deeper. HCT holds no mandate from Horsham practising Christians (including me) to lobby for an ultra-political free school. The money for free schools has been taken away from other schools up and down the land which were expecting site improvements such as science blocks and indoor toilets under the now-scrapped Building Schools for the Future programme. The free school initiative ought to be troubling the consciences of Christians. HCT's 'consultation' has focused on those most likely to support the proposal. Its self-appointed leadership - well-intentioned people with too much time on their hands - has been abject, its figures are inaccurate and its support from local head teachers (including church school heads, to their great credit) has been non-existent. The Q&As on the HCTOasis free school Web page have not been updated for weeks and, discounting self 'likes', their Facebook free school page suggests the support of less than a dozen people. HCT is out of its depth and this proposal is a dead duck as well as a public relations flop. If this disaster has been funded from the stewardship contributions of Horsham churchgoers, apologies should be offered to Horsham Christians, as well as to the parents who have been misled. Lessons need to be learned.
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