Romsey'S hopes of having a brand new primary school became reality this week.
County Councillor Don Allen, executive member for education, said: "At the Education Policy Review Committee on Tuesday, having heard deputations from the Romsey Infant and Junior, Cupernham and Ampfield Schools the Committee, by a very large majority, supported the recommendation of the officers in respect of the Romsey Schools. I recognise that adopting the recommendation leaves the Cupernham schools with an on-going decline in pupil numbers unless and until children from the Abbotswood development begin to arrive. This will mean that we will need to keep the situation under review."
Dr Malcolm Hudson, spokesman for the (TOPS) Together Our Primary Schools, campaign group that fought for the option to amalgamate Romsey junior and infant schools, said: "I am very pleased that the views of the parents and the whole community in Romsey have been appreciated by the County Council. This is a very good decision for the people of
Romsey and we can look forward to an excellent school being set up to replace the two schools that sadly have to close. I would like to thank everyone who has supported us in the last six months.
Earlier in the week Hampshire County Council's education policy review committee overwhelmingly upheld advice from county education officer Andrew Seber that Romsey infant and junior schools should be replaced by a 210-place primary school.
And the commitee's decision was upheld yesterday (Thursday) by Don Allen, the county's education executive member.
At present, the two schools have a total of 154 spare places, 84 of them at the infant school (capacity 180) and 70 of them at the junior (capacity 248). And the report, drawn up in the wake of a declining birth rate and falling pupil numbers, forecast that by 2009, there will be just 85 at the infant school and 106 at the junior.
On behalf of the junior schools, Professor Derek Pletcher described the idea of a one class per year group primary school was "an exciting opportunity." It could have breakfast and after school clubs, holiday play schemes and extended community use of its buildings and playing field.
With the primary likely to be built on the junior school site, he added: "Romsey Junior School is right at the centre of the community, whereas all the other primary schools are on the perimeter."
Seventy per cent of the children attending the primary school there, he said, would be able to walk to school and most would not have to cross busy roads.
In support, parent governor Candy Close described the junior school as "a successful, popular school with SATS results well above the national average" and said the primary option was one which "has massive support in Romsey."
Doctor Malcolm Hudson of the TOPS (Together One Primary School) group, which has also been totally opposed to any proposal to closing the school without a primary replacement, described the community primary as "the best option for everyone".
He also gave examples of families whose needs could admirably be met by the primary near their homes and he, too, referred to easy pedestrian access and continued provision of "the excellence currently delivered at the two schools."
On behalf of the infant school, David Johnson, who spent 37 years with the Hampshire Education Authority - 27 as a head teacher - said the infant school also welcomed the primary option if a change had to be made.
If both the Romsey Infant and Junior had closed, many of the children would have been likely to have gone to Cupernham Infant and Junior schools as their nearest option.
And in a statement on behalf of the Cupernham schools, junior school governors' chairman David Willey and infant school governors' vice-chairman Ann Wakefield suggested the county had bowed to "parental and political pressure" by dropping an earlier option to close the two Romsey schools.
They said the Romsey primary option did not meet the required drop in surplus places and suggested: "The hard fact for us all is that there are not enough children to support all the Romsey and Cupernham schools remaining viable."
Various comments were made about a possible additional need caused by a major housing development at Abbotswood, but they commented: "The indication is that Abbotswood will be built and occupied around 2009 when it is anticipated 500 homes will produce only 125 primary children. This is not sufficient to fill the Cupernham schools alone."
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