Standards - NOT tiers

This website has been set up to co-ordinate the campaign against a change in the structure of schools in Bedfordshire and to provide information and a forum for parents, and councillors to air their views about the proposals.

A lot of the documentation and information has been taken from websites prepared in defence of the 3 tier system on the Isle of White and in Northumberland, and I am very grateful to Chris Welsford and his colleagues on the Isle of Wight and for Ed Brown and his colleagues in Northumberland for allowing us access to this information and for their support

The county council has said that standards are the issue and yet all the documentation talks about structure. They have said that "to do nothing is not an option", and we agree. Standards do need to be raised - change is overdue - but the 3-Tier system needs to be part of the solution, it is not a barrier to that solution.

We Believe: 

• There is No evidence to show that 2-Tiers are better than 3-Tiers.
• There is no evidence that standards rise more than they would otherwise have done after the change from 3 to 2 tiers.
• Parents are only now being consulted, in the original letters sent out by 4S (the consultants employed by the county to facilitate the consultation they were not included). 

We believe that the consequences are deeply worrying and will leave us with unhappy children and serious social problems:

• A 2-Tier system will mean the closure of many small schools despite the County Council's stated aim, they have given themselves the let off of "exceptional circumstance". How many of your small schools will be able to expand without the need for temporary accommodation, costs in respect of toilets, chairs tables and other resources that are geared to the delivery of education up to year 4
• Small schools will not be able to deliver adequate 4-11 education. A broad specialist curriculum with specialist teaching will be lost to a generation of children 
• The change will rip the heart out of our rural communities. How valuable is the land on which your school is built? Think of the pressure for new housing in your area. 
• There will be less Parental choice - with only a few big Primary Schools left
• Despite what they say, many parents are not apathetic and do "vote with their feet"
• Many schools have large numbers of children from out of area - it's a fact!
• Parents without transport will be forced to allow their very young children to travel by bus or to clog the roads as they drive them in. Not the most environmentally friendly outcome. 
• Pre-schools may also close - at best, their often very close ties to Primary Schools, may be broken. Has a pre-school closed in your area recently? If so why?
• Excellent primary schools, with higher than average costs will almost certainly close.
• Recruitment will not be significantly improved. Recruitment of teachers is a national problem. If the decision is made it is likely that the change will lead to more problems. The Council's contention that specialist teachers who teach by choice in Middle School will want to teach class based primary or age groups they have chosen to avoid for other reasons is we believe misguided.
• Many children will have to travel far from home from the age of 11 or even at the age of 4
• Parents without cars will find it hard to support their children when they are ill, and hard to support their school
• We should be very worried about the huge culture change that will result from mixing 11 to 13 year olds with 14 - 18 year olds particularly on public transport.
• Bullying and anti-social behaviour is likely to increase.
• The changes are likely to mean the introduction of large primary schools not designed for 4 - 9 year olds.
• Finally, this is Bedfordshire, we are different - all counties are...by definition...this is not Surrey.
• We feel that in rural areas such as ours the Middle Schools and the 3-tier system serve our needs extremely well.

At the same time we demand better standards of education for our children at all stages of their development. If that costs a little more than then so be it.

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