VOCAL campaigners believe children will have no schools to go to after council officers’ ‘cavalry approach’ to the primary school review.
Ruth Bowden, a parent of two boys at Longbarn Primary School, fears youngsters in Poulton North may not be able to secure a reception place in the area when they start school because there will not be enough room to accommodate the four-year-olds, according to figures published by Warrington Borough Council.
The mum-of-three, of Bruche Avenue, Padgate, said the figures revealed by the council’s education officers during the primary school review, state that there will be 150 reception places in Poulton North in 2013. But other statistics from the council estimate that there will be 200 children who are due to start school for that same intake.
Ruth said that if the figures published by the council are accurate, in some years there would be less than half a per cent of surplus places, which falls far below the suggested figure of between five and 10 per cent.
She said: “This area is being discriminated against. The council has created a feeling of panic and fear because they haven’t reassured us what will happen if the school closes.
“From our point of view, as well as looking at schools we need to consider which ones we have a chance of getting our youngest son into when he starts school in 2013. You have got to plan for the future with this worry.”
She said she and her husband Pete chose Longbarn Primary School because they felt it was the best establishment for their children’s education.
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