Petition to object the Council’s plan for Belleville’s extension

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Following the primary school consultation and the Public Meeting at Belleville School, Monday 15Nov10, a petition is available online aiming to “object to Wandsworth Council’s flawed proposals for the Forthbridge Rd school site“.
Author: Ian Hamilton
After an expansion consultation in June 2010, Belleville Primary School will use the Forthbridge Rd school site from Sep2011, but admissions will still be based on distance from the Belleville main site, over a 1km away.
Wandsworth Council passed this plan despite the 479 objections it received. These were made mostly to the admissions policy which will exclude local children from the Forthbridge Rd site.
Wandsworth Council are now holding another consultation which ends very soon (1st Dec2010).
We, the undersigned, believe that:

  • The Wandsworth Council proposals detailed in the latest consultation are flawed and do not adequately address any of the concerns of the 479 objections made in the Belleville expansion consultation (June2010).
  • These complicated proposals for two, ranked Geographical Priority Areas have conflated the sibling issue at Belleville with the Forthbridge Rd school access issue.
  • The proposal for a Second GPA which:
    a) is ranked in priority behind the First GPA;
    b) contains the Forthbridge Rd site, but is skewed to the west of it;
    c) still calculates admission distances from the main Belleville site;
    means there is little realistic chance of any child living close to the Forthbridge Rd site gaining access to it.
    (As acknowledged by the council at the public meeting on 15Nov2010).

Instead we would urge Wandsworth Council to recognise that:

  1. The Forthbridge Rd school site is an opportunity to develop a successful school site with a strong link to its local community, rather than simply an isolated annexe;
  2. This would best be achieved by a guaranteed percentage of the reception places at the Forthbridge Rd school site being reserved for local children;
  3. Admission criteria for this to be the same as any other school site BUT distance to be measured from the Forthbridge school site;
  4. These local places could be phased-in over a number of years starting from 2012 (to protect demand at other local schools north of the Clapham Common);

You can respond to the consultation before 1st Dec in writing to The Consultation Officer, Admission Consultation, Room 90, Town Hall, Wandsworth High Street, London SW18 2PU
Or Email primaryexpansionconsultation@wandsworth.gov.uk
Or online www.wandsworth.gov.uk/bsf/consultations
Online petition to object to Wandsworth Council’s proposals for the Forthbridge Rd school site (CLICK HERE)
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CJI editor and Clapham Junction Action Group co-founder and coordinator since 2008, Cyril has lived in Clapham Junction since 2001.
He is also funder and CEO of Habilis-Digital Ltd, a digital agency creating and managing websites and Internet solutions.

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