Council meeting with schools minister was ‘positive and constructive’

Herefordshire could become a national pilot for how schools and communities could work together closely and creatively to sustain rural schools. The idea emerged out of a 'positive and constructive' meeting this week (12 March 2008) between Herefordshire Council and Schools Minister Jim Knight MP.

The council had requested the meeting to impress upon the government the strength of public feeling in the county to protect rural schools and communities. The council reflected the messages given by the Herefordshire Against Closing Schools (HACS) rally in February and will be keeping the group informed of developments at a meeting next week (18 March 2008).

Leader of the council Roger Phillips said: "The minister expressed sympathy with the points made, that the county had the third-lowest per pupil funding in the country, faces extra challenges in providing education in a sparsely populated area and yet still attains outstanding results in its high schools and primary schools".

"I invited Jim Knight, who himself was brought up in a rural community to come and visit us in Herefordshire, where we have plenty of examples of where schools and communities had collaborated to sustain rural schools. The minister agreed that the county could be supported, with pump-primed funding from government, to become a pilot for rural areas across England, which is an exciting proposition".

The government had previously required the council to review its schools provision to ensure spare capacity does not exceed 10 per cent, in order to secure significant capital investment from the government. The council pressed for this rule to be relaxed for rural schools as it made more sense for urban provision, and that local authorities should be in a position to judge what was right for the long-term viability of communities.

The delegation for Herefordshire comprised leader of the council Roger Phillips, cabinet member for children's services Councillor Jenny Hyde; chief executive Chris Bull; director of children's services Dr Sharon Menghini and local MP Bill Wiggin.

"Pinning educational funding to pupil numbers means that when rolls do fall it has a destructive, knock on effect for communities and for the quality of education that can be provided", added Councillor Phillips. "We asked for a review of the funding formula so that rural schools and their importance to communities were accepted and supported".

The Schools Minister said it was possible that the government's funding formula could change in 2011 to take account of the difficulties in providing high quality education in sparsely populated areas.

"No guarantees were given", said cabinet member for children's services Councillor Jenny Hyde, "but there was clear recognition of the wider range of issues in the long-term viability of schools, not least home to school transportation costs. And with schools looking to extend activities and opening hours for pupils and the community, transport costs naturally increase. In Herefordshire's case, the annual bill is currently £5 million but could rise by over £1 million if fuel hits £2 a litre".

The council sought reassurances that Herefordshire would not be penalised financially for its stance in support of local communities.

"The minister said he would work with Herefordshire Council in the development of its primary school capital programme", said Councillor Phillips, "and promised the county would not be disadvantaged by its position of no school closures".

The minister heard that the council had formally undertaken that no secondary school closures or major reorganisations would be considered during the current administration. This effectively guarantees the status quo for high schools for as long as possible (at least until May 2011). The council also told the minister that no primary schools would close in Herefordshire outside of the county's Small Schools Policy, which has been for eight years.

"We believe that we did the right thing in travelling to London to meet the minister", said council leader Roger Phillips. "It was a useful and constructive meeting and we felt we put strongly the views of local parents".

The council also told the minister that it welcomed the government planning inspector's ruling against the expansion of the proposed Steiner School at Much Dewchurch.

"We are pleased that the government will not be putting £10 million into the fee-paying Steiner School, at the expense of the taxpayer and to the detriment of council run schools", added Councillor Phillips.