Head hits out at council strategy (From Free Press Series)

Head hits out at council strategy

WEST MON head teacher Peter Phillips has accused Torfaen council's education department of not listening to concerns over the future of secondary education in the north of Torfaen.

Debate over the future of Trevethin, West Mon and Abersychan schools rumbles on.

Torfaen council wants to close Trevethin, victim of falling rolls and crumbling buildings. Pupils would be sent to West Mon and Abersychan and those schools would each gain from a £6 million refit.

Two months of public consultation meetings on the options for the schools begin in November. Then the council will vote on whether to adopt the controversial closure option before the issue is finally decided at the National Assembly.

But Mr Phillips has blasted education chiefs over the way the options had been presented. He doesn't think Trevethin should close and he called the provision of education in the north 'unfair' to that in the south. He said it was education policy that had resulted in falling pupil numbers at Trevethin.

"I don't agree that the director of education (Mike de Val) has considered all the options available," he said.

"The community hasn't been offered the opportunity to comment on other options.

"It seems they make up their minds what the options are, which they prefer and then go ahead. They don't seem to listen to anyone else.

"We should be giving people the opportunity to decide what could be done - then they can decide the way forward.

"I feel strongly that the issue for Trevethin, which is a good community school, has been fudged.

"There is a reason why the school is shrinking and that is that people in the north of Torfaen are choosing to send their children south of where they live. If parents are firm believers in 11-18 schools they will send them to St Albans or to a school in the south."

It's no secret Mr Phillips has a long-held desire for his school to offer 11-18 education.

"There is no equality of provision. Youngsters in the north should have the same choice as those in the south. Then, Trevethin wouldn't be up for closure

"We have plenty of room for more pupils here because schools in the south are taking pupils from our catchment area and we're taking pupils from the north.

"I have enormous sympathy for people in Trevethin. If the north was treated the same way as the south (regarding provision of sixth forms) there would be no room in this school for youngsters from Abersychan and Trevethin because we would have the pupils this school was built for.

"The director is ignoring that point. Once Trevethin's school is taken away it will never be rebuilt. It is an important resource for the community and we should be looking for ways to keep the school at the heart of the community.

"My feeling is we are in danger of adopting a 20th century mentality towards education. It should be about engaging youngsters aged 11-18. A school catering for 11-16-year-olds doesn't meet the modern agenda.

"There is no reason Trevethin couldn't operate very successfully as a 11-14 school. At 14, pupils could then choose a vocational or traditional (academic) route."

West Mon, like Abersychan, would gain from £6 million of improvements should the closure plan be passed. That would fund a new vocational studies block at West Mon.

Mr Phillips said: "I would love to have that. But I don't want it at the expense of another school.

"It seems obscene to me to spend £12 million or more on two schools when £2 million would make Trevethin fit for its purpose.

"I'm not planning for expansion yet. If it is necessary then we will be ready to respond. It's premature for us to make that assumption. I wish the whole issue had been looked at more carefully early on.

"What is definitely the case is that we don't know that is true because so many young people from this area go to schools in the south.

"I have 1,100 pupils. I think around 300 of them should be in Trevethin or Abersychan.

"I would like to see two or three schools in the north offering 11-18 or 19 education. They would all collaborate with Coleg Gwent on an agenda that meets the needs of children aged 11-19.

"We must all work together as equal partners to meet the education agenda."