Celebrating Brockeridge School

At the end of this term, Brockeridge Infant School will close to become part of the new Watermore Primary School. On Thursday 16th December the school will be holding a Victorian Open Day to celebrate Brockeridge and its place in the heart of the community since 1846. There will be an exhibition in the hall from 9.30-11.30am and 1.30-5.30pm, where you will be able to look at photos of past pupils and staff, read the old log books to find out what happened in the olden days and meet staff and governors, past and present. Refreshments will be available. Anyone who has ever had an association with the school will be welcome to attend.

At 5.30pm there will be a short closing ceremony where the children will be singing the "Brockeridge Song" for the last time.

School merger delayed until January 2011

Due to concerns about the tight timetable for appointing a Head Teacher Designate and making other preparations for the merger of Brockeridge Infant and Highcroft Junior Schools, South Gloucestershire Council applied for a delay in implementation until January 2011. This has been approved by the Schools Adjudicator.

Claire Young wrote to the Chair of the Temporary Governing Body on behalf of parents who had a number of practical concerns about the delay. For example, would parents of new starters have to purchase a uniform for just one term then a new uniform the following term. The Chair wrote back to say they recognise these concerns and promising to keep parents involved.

School merger approved

The proposed merger of Brockeridge Infants School and Highcroft Junior School has been approved by the Independent Adjudicator. Initially, the new school will continue to use the two existing sites.

Local Councillor Dave Hockey (pictured outside Brockeridge with Pat Hockey and Claire Young) said, “Local parents should be congratulated on making their views very clear. Parents did not want all the children on the Highcroft site until a new building is provided. The existing buildings are unsuitable and no one wanted to see more temporary classrooms on the site. The Adjudicator said that people were right to be concerned about funds being available for a new school in the current economic climate and seems to have looked very closely at the plans for one school on two sites before approving them.”

Cllr Pat Hockey said, “Both schools are very popular with parents and many will be delighted that, for now at least, they can still opt for their children to start school in the small-school Brockeridge setting, even though it will be part of a larger primary school. A lot of parents would have preferred Brockeridge Infants School to be kept separate from Highcroft Junior School but at least they have won their battle to ensure children at Brockeridge School do not move onto the Highcroft School site until proper, permanent provision is available”.

The existing schools will close on August 31 this year and the new school will re-open, on the existing separate sites, on September 1st.

Brockeridge-Highcroft merger latest

At the end of last year, South Glos Council carried out a consultation on a proposal to merge Brockeridge Infant and Highcroft Junior schools. They have now given parents an update on the plans. The key issues from the consultation were:

• both schools have strong support from parents and the community
• the Brockeridge site is held in affection locally and people are concerned about how it might be used if it was no longer a school
• there was a strong view that if the schools are to merge on the Highcroft site, new buildings should be provided
• there is continuing concern about current and projected pupil numbers, the resulting school budgets and therefore issues of staffing, class organisation and the quality of education for the children
• if the schools merge, there's a clear preference for the Council to sponsor the new school

You can read the report on the consultation online.

What is now proposed is that the amalgamation should go ahead in September 2010 but the school will continue to use both sites until new buildings can be provided on the Highcroft site.

A formal statutory notice of amalgamation will be published in early September 2009. There will then be six weeks for further comments before the Independent Schools Adjudicator makes the final decision.

New deadline for schools consultation - 19th Dec

Local Councillors Pat Hockey, Dave Hockey and Claire Young with the consultation document outside Brockeridge Infant School

Parents and other residents now have until Friday 19th December to have their say on plans to merge Brockeridge Infant and Highcroft Junior Schools.

There was widespread concern at the public meeting that residents were being asked to support the merger without any idea of whether the merged school could continue to use both sites or how pupils would be accommodated if all ages were on the Highcroft School site. Many were worried that it would mean their children being taught in “temporary” classrooms.

It is crucial that people fill in the questionnaire and make their views clear to the Council and Governors. If you support the merger, but only in certain circumstances, for example:

• Only if the infants and juniors remain on the existing separate sites


• Only if the infants stay at Brockeridge until there are new permanent buildings to accommodate everyone on the Highcroft site

then you need to answer "No" to question 1 and use the space provided for reasons to say "unless...". There is no space for reasons if you say "Yes".

The deadline was extended after parents complained and Councillors Claire Young and Pat Hockey took their concerns to the Council's Cabinet. Your views can make a difference - reply to the consultation now!

Brockeridge-Highcroft consultation raised at the Council's Cabinet

Yesterday local Councillor Claire Young took parents' concerns about the Brockeridge-Highcroft consultation to the Council's Cabinet. She explained that people wanted more information to make a decision and that the presentation given at the public meeting did not match the consultation document. Officers promised to look into whether they need to provide parents with updated information and extend the deadline to give people time to consider the new information.

Brockeridge-Highcroft public meeting

Last night saw a packed public meeting at Highcroft Junior School to discuss the proposed merger of Brockeridge and Highcroft Schools. There was clearly a great deal of concern about the uncertainties in the process and the information being provided to parents and interested members of the public.

It is very important that everyone has their say on the proposals before the deadline of 5th December. You can respond to the consultation online or email, write a letter or return the form on the back of the consultation document.

It would help your local Focus Team to represent your views better if you also contacted one or more of the team:

claire.young@southglos.gov.uk
dave.hockey@southglos.gov.uk
pat.hockey@southglos.gov.uk

Brockeridge-Highcroft consultation online

You can now view the consultation document online for the proposed amalgamation of Brockeridge and Highcroft.

Consultation on merger of Brockeridge and Highcroft

South Glos Council are going to hold a public consultation on whether Brockeridge Infant School and Highcroft Junior School should merge to form an all-through primary school. It is the Council's policy to review paired infant and junior schools if there is a headship vacancy on one of the schools and the projected pupil numbers are falling.

There will be a consultation event for parents and other members of the public on Tuesday, 18 November 2008 at 7.30 pm – 9.30 pm in Highcroft Junior School. Local people will then have until Friday 5th December to make their views known formally.

For the full details, you can read the report that accompanied the decision online.