Second Stage of Campaign Begins

We issued the following press release at 15:00 today.

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SUPPORTERS LAUNCH SECOND STAGE OF SCHOOL CAMPAIGN

Combs, Derbyshire: At a meeting held in Matlock today, Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet voted to accept a recommendation from education officers to keep Combs Infant School open.

The school had been threatened with closure by the Council as part of their search for a solution to their problem of surplus places in other High Peak schools. Derbyshire County Council decided that closing Combs Infant School would not improve educational standards in the area, and would therefore cause them to fail in their statutory duty.

Following the meeting, the ‘Save Combs School’ campaigners announced that their campaign would immediately move into a second stage, which aims to provide long term stability for the school.

Decision Welcomed
Head Teacher, Avis Curry, welcomed the news: “This is such a relief. Everyone connected with the school and campaign has felt under a great strain for months.”

Under Mrs. Curry’s leadership, the school achieved an ‘outstanding’ rating in every category examined by Ofsted in September 2006. The school will now be able to continue to provide up to 26 places for Key Stage 1 pupils.

Combs resident Diane Williamson said: “I was driving when I heard the news of the Council’s positive decision, with tears streaming down my face. We can now make sure that our two-year old daughter will get the best possible start to her education.”

“The decision by Derbyshire County Council is very welcome,” said parent governor Nick Boden, “but it’s regrettable that their decision focused only on the educational merits of the school, and didn’t mention other important elements of the case we put to them, such as the value of a small rural school strongly linked to the community surrounding it. We will continue to explain these points to them.”

Second Stage
The campaigners announced today that the second stage of their campaign has begun. Chair of Governors, Nye Rowlands, said: “The decision today by Derbyshire County Council is only the conclusion of the first stage. The school simply can’t operate successfully if it’s constantly under imminent threat of being re-proposed for closure.”

Nye Rowlands explained: “We need to move on from this decision, and work with Derbyshire Council to remedy the damage that has been done by their threat to close the school. We will assist them in putting in place the support for the school that will help it regain stability. We want parents to have full confidence that the school is now there for their children to attend in the coming years.”

Community Involvement
Combs School rents their use of schoolrooms in a building that began life as a Wesleyan Chapel in the nineteenth century. The building also serves as the Village Hall, which is the only community resource for Combs.

The building is managed and maintained by the Combs Village Hall Trust. Chair of the Trustees, Mike Evanson, commented: “Following the Council’s decision, we want to move on with exciting new environmental projects that will extend the use of the Village Hall. One good result of this campaign is that it has emphasised the wealth of diverse talent we have in the Combs area. A strong sense of community has been evident throughout this campaign, and people are saying ‘OK, what’s next?’”

Celebrating Success
“First things first, though.” said Nye Rowlands, “We need to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who has played a part in bringing the first stage of this campaign to a successful conclusion, and there will be a celebration at 7pm on 9th November at Combs School and Village Hall for everyone who has wanted to see this outcome.”

Full details of the planned celebration will be posted on the campaign’s web site, at save-combs-school.org.uk

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Download a copy of the press release (56Kb Adobe Acrobat PDF format).

DCC To Spare Village School

The following press release has been issued by the campaign.

Derbyshire County Council To Spare Village School From Closure

Combs, UK; 23 October 2007: In a report issued today by Derbyshire County Council, a recommendation has been made not to proceed with the closure of Combs Infant School, in High Peak, Derbyshire. The recommendation will go before the Council’s Cabinet for confirmation of the decision, on 30 October.

The report has been issued following a consultation process that began in May, in which the Council sought to solve their problem of having surplus places in other schools by closing Combs School.

The council received more than 2000 signatures on petitions, and almost 200 letters of opposition. Detailed arguments against the proposed closure have been set out on the campaign web site at save-combs-school.org.uk.

The campaigners have stressed, throughout the consultation, that Combs School was rated in September 2006 by Ofsted as “outstanding value for money”, and was unique in High Peak in providing an outstanding level of service in every category evaluated.

In their recommendation not to proceed, the Council has recognised that by closing the school, they would not – contrary to their statutory duty – be raising educational standards in the area.

Welcoming the report, parent governor Nick Boden commented: “Thankfully, common sense has prevailed, and we look forward to the Cabinet accepting the recommendation put forward by education officers.”

The Council’s recommendation also commented on the unusual arrangement whereby the same building is used for the school, as a village hall, and as a chapel.

“The School operates within a building maintained by the Village Hall Trust.” explained Chairman of the Trustees, Mike Evanson, “There’s a long history of the community providing financial support to the school, and we were very concerned that closing down the school would severely impact our ability to continue to operate the village hall on behalf of all who benefit from its use.”

The campaign opposing the proposed closure has drawn strong support, from within the community of Combs, and far beyond. All of the local parish and borough councils gave their support to the campaign to keep the school open, as did Peak District National Park Authority, Derbyshire Rural Community Council, and the Methodist Church.

The problem of surplus school places in the area will be kept under review by the Council. Chairman of the school Governors, Nye Rowlands, said: “This is undoubtedly good news, but we aren’t complacent, and know that we will have to sustain the strong community support, for this excellent school to continue to be spared the threat of closure.”

ENDS

The Fight Goes On: School Barbecue and DVD Release

The following press release was issued today:

The two month public consultation period regarding the closure of Combs Infant School may have ended on 6th July but the parents and villagers are keeping up the fight. Just as over 200 people came to the public consultation meeting on 22nd May to show their support for the school and village hall, the school Summer Barbecue was similarly well-attended.

Despite a damp start and threatening rain clouds throughout, parents past present and future, villagers, and friends of the school enjoyed the food, stalls and games and the display of traditional Maypole dancing given by the children. A sense of family prevailed as a former teacher – who also assists with the Brownie Pack - and ex-pupils all helped staff and parents to make the evening a great success. Many of the raffle prizes were contributed by local businesses including Waitrose, Toni & Guy, Morrisons and Simply Beauty in Chapel. Thanks to the efforts of everyone involved and the ever-present community spirit, a total of £631 was raised. Parent-Governor Nick Boden commented, ‘This is a fantastic result, particularly after the upheaval of recent weeks.’

Thanks to another community effort*, a DVD has now been produced entitled ‘Save Combs School’. It encapsulates the nature of the school and village and the reasons why the school should not be closed – namely, the quality of education that it offers and its irreplaceable importance to the history, infrastructure and spirit of the community of Combs. The DVD was sent out this morning to all the County Councillors, including the members of the Cabinet who will be deciding the fate of Combs Infant School at the end of the summer. Copies are available – please contact the school on 01298 813120 for more details.

Meanwhile, the campaign effort continues, with support being pledged from far beyond the immediate village community**.

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Further information:
Carah Boden, Save Combs School Campaign
Tel: 01298 813140

* The production of the DVD was kindly organised and sponsored by locally based Plain English Campaign.

** There's still time for you to add your name to the online petition.

‘Outstanding’ School Under Closure Threat

A press release was issued by the campaign team today with the following text (you can download the MS Word document here)

A village school which is among the top 10 per cent in the country is threatened with closure in a row over funding.

The infants school in the picture postcard Peak District village of Combs in Derbyshire – rated ‘outstanding’ in all categories in the 2006 Ofsted report – has been told it must close next year. Education officials at the county council claim numbers are falling and closure will save around £70,000 a year.

But parents, staff and school governors say that if the 26-pupil school closes then the village hall and church will have to shut too, destroying the local community. Governors say officials are manipulating the figures to the point of dishonesty. When the correct like-for-like calculations are applied the saving is around £50,000 and can be further reduced by value add-ons like existing provision for special needs cases.

Parent governor Steve Lyons is outraged: ’The county claims that numbers are falling – but this is rubbish. Next year there’s a tiny drop but after that the school will be over-subscribed – as it always has been.’

Officials claim that most pupils are from outside the catchment area. But parents insist that all but one live within two miles and many walk to school on a daily basis. Closure would mean more car journeys at a time when the Government is trying to encourage more children to walk to school.

Chairman of governors Nye Rowlands, who spent his entire working life in education, says the closure is a national scandal: ‘They’ve taken leave of their senses. Ofsted got it right when it said the school provided outstanding value for money and enjoyed great levels of support and confidence from parents and the community.’

High Peak’s MP Tom Levitt has also been drawn into the dispute. He’s promised to take up the parents’ case with Derbyshire County Council and the Department of Education.

Governors say the real irony is that closure is likely to prove more costly for the county. The trend has been for parents to move their children across the county boundary into Cheshire – at Derbyshire’s expense - rather than to the primary school in nearby Chapel-en-le-Frith where no pupils have moved on to in the last seven years, contrary to the assertions of Derbyshire County Council.

Governor Steve Lyons adds: ‘We’ll fight this to the bitter end. This is exactly the kind of school the Government wants. It’s a jewel in the education crown and it should be expanded rather than closed.’