It Takes Time To Achieve Excellence

There follows an excerpt from a letter to DCC from a Combs couple who have resided in the village since 1964. The wife of the couple was a pupil at Combs School in the 1940s, and the husband was a Trustee and Treasurer of the Combs Village Hall Trust for a quarter of a century.

We have read with great dismay details of the proposal to close Combs School, and attended the meeting in the village with Councillor Charles on 22nd May. We understand the position of DCC, but cannot accept that the arguments put forward outweigh the fundamental points put by the representatives of the various parties from the school and the village.

The present government has put great emphasis on improving education standards over the last ten years, setting targets throughout the country. In Combs School, over almost twenty years, two Head Teachers and one Acting Head Teacher have raised its level to be in the top 10% in the country. What message does it send to teachers across the County to have such a school summarily closed? It is madness to close such a centre of excellence apparently to help meet a political target to fill places at Chapel Junior School. It may take a further twenty years to build the momentum to attain such excellence again.

Online Petition Launched

An online petition has been launched to supplement the petition that is gathering signatures in Combs and the surrounding area.

Full Details

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Please note: Signing the petition is a two-step process. First you put your name and address in. You'll be sent an e-mail to the addressyou give. You need to click on the link in that e-mail to confirm your 'signature' on the petition.

Leaflet Distribution in Chapel-en-le-Frith

The new leaflets will be distributed in the Chapel-en-le-Frith area next week as part of the regular delivery of newspapers by the kind people at Staley's Dailies. We are very grateful to them for their generosity in helping us to raise awareness of the campaign in this way.

Combs Community Group

The following is an edited version of a letter sent to DCC on behalf of Combs Community Group.

I am writing on behalf of members of the ‘Combs Community Group’ as we are extremely anxious to partake in a full and meaningful way in the DCC consultation, following our members attendance at the public meeting held in Combs on 22nd of May.

We use the Village Hall on a monthly basis, providing a programme of lectures, talks, demonstrations, organised visits, and social events for our membership. Our group also acts as a sounding board, identifying problems and issues affecting Combs village, individuals, groups and our environment. We provide a social platform for new villagers to find companionship or support and act as a local information signpost point.

Our survival depends on a constantly refreshed programme, speakers and events, and given the rising cost of speakers, our ability to develop and offer such a programme has only been possible through dedicated members and the close partnership with the Combs Village Hall Trust, with its strategy of supporting small village groups by supplying affordable facilities.

Our membership predominantly resides within the Combs Valley and Cockyard, and the Hall is the natural centre for our activities, as there is no other such socially inclusive group or equivalent facilities existing within the area.

Given this background, and the integrated nature of the operation of the ‘Combs Community Facilities’, we consider there would be damaging effects from the proposed closure on the rural community.

We respectfully request that the closure proposal be dropped, as we (in Combs and High Peak) would lose a school which is a proven model of educational excellence, and potentially also lose a well used and greatly appreciated community facility.

Combs Sewing Group

These are excerpts from a letter sent to DCC on behalf of Combs Sewing Group.

We use the Village Hall on a weekly basis to learn and develop skills and techniques in sewing, fashion and design, employing them in group and individual projects. Our members reside within the Valley, and the Hall is the natural centre for these activities, no other such group or facilities exist within a reasonable proximity.

The Village Hall, School and Chapel joint facilities are the only community facilities available to the population within the Combs. The closure of Combs School would immediately diminish the social role of the village and conspire with other contemporary factors that tend to turn the village into mere dormitories lacking social richness and the rewarding mixture of social/age groups.

The individuals and groups using the community facilities provided by the Village Hall Trust offer a range of social, recreational and adult learning activities. These groups also provide a real and reactive range of information and support networks for villagers in times of need and crisis.

Therefore, the loss of the community facility in Combs will have major detrimental impacts on the quality of life and support for Combs residents.

We are deeply concerned by the steps you are considering, given our community's tremendous efforts to ensure that the valley has a broad based community resource, and the improvement it has made in the ‘quality of life’ afforded to our community.

Support from DCC Councillor

This letter from Councillor Tracy Critchlow, dated 24 May, was a response to a parent of a child at Combs School, who hopes to be able to send their other child there. Cllr Critchlow (Conservative) represents Chapel and Hope Valley on Derbyshire County Council.

"I agree with the points you raise in your letter as I am familiar with the school and my godson used to attend there. Whilst Combs Infant School is not in my division, children from my area do attend it and I am very strongly against the proposed closure.

"Combs School has always been rated as excellent by OfSTED and has a waiting list of pupils wanting to attend. Closing Combs Infant School would not increase numbers at Chapel School, as many parents actively choose not to send their children there because of its lower standards of attainment. Few children, if any, each year go on to Chapel for their junior school education, preferring to go to better schools elsewhere such as Kettleshulme which is out of the county. This preference would continue as a choice for their infant school education if Combs was closed. The only way to increase the numbers at Chapel is to improve its educational standards, not by closing another school.

"The closure of the school would have many repercussions within the village. The village hall would almost certainly close if the school was closed as the school rents the village hall and provides it's main source of income. Without the use of the school, the village hall would not be viable and the village's only community facility would be lost.

"Combs Infant School is an excellent school which gives its pupils a high standard of education. This is vouched for by the primary schools who state that children from Combs Infant School are above the standard of the children from their other feeder schools.

"I object to an excellent school being closed for no good reason."

Councillor Critchlow's letter was copied to:

• Bruce Buckley, Strategic Director of Children and Young Adults, DCC
• Cllr Alan Charles, Cabinet Member forSchools, DCC
• Cllr Barrie Taylor, Elected Member for Whaley Bridge and Blackbrook, DCC
• Avis Curry, Head Teacher, Combs Infant School
• The Rt. Hon. Alan Johnson MP, Secretary of State for Education & Skills
• Tom Levitt MP
• Cllr Andrew Bingham, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for High Peak
  

Plea to MP over school

The following letter appeared in the Buxton Advertiser on 30 May.

Mr Levitt,

Here is a challenge for you, let everyone see what help you can give to Combs School.

Voted as one of the top ten in 2006, you must be very proud, so please write to Mr Bruce Buckley of Derbyshire County Council and see ways in that you can save £54,000, the price of ripping the heart out of a village.

Combs School is the best-run school in Derbyshire with happy, well-mannered children and excellent staff.

My two grandsons live in Combs and I hope they will be able to go to the school and also future generations. Please do not let it close; life is not all about the cost.

Mrs M Hill
Warmbrook Road
Chapel-en-le-Frith