Education originally published figures stating that there were 103 spaces available in St. Martin’s primary but has been forced to amend its figures down to between 40 and 50, less than half, to take into account the amount of physical space actually available. Director of Education Allan Brown made the admission at a public meeting last week.
Members of the St. Andrew’s primary PTA are shocked by Education’s failure to supply actual figures of the physical spaces available in the schools that would receive their children if the school closes. Parents and carers are stunned that Education hasn’t been able to get such vital figures correct when so much is riding on it for their children.
Mother of 3 Cathy Gordon said, “I’ve heard one plan is to re-instate a room in St. Martin’s that has no windows or ventilation to create an extra class full of pupils. How can this be healthy or conducive to learning? Who out of our elected representatives would accept this for their child?”
Another parent Kelly King said, “What about the toilets and cloakrooms at St. Martin’s? I’ve heard the facilities as they are couldn’t cope with all the extra children and even at current numbers the school can’t have a whole school assembly for health and safety reasons. How much will it cost to sort all that out?”
Donna Collenette has painstakingly researched and pushed for the true figures from Education. Despite assurances that she would be given them before the half term break they have still not been released. “How can Education put forward a life-altering proposal like this without getting its facts and figures right?” asks Mrs Collenette, “I’m putting my faith in our People’s Deputies to look in detail at what closing the school would really mean and cost. If Education can’t even count up the number of spaces correctly what faith can we have in the other figures?”
Sarah Barrett Secretary of the St. Andrew’s PTA Committee elaborates further. “In just a few days we will provide all States Deputies with our analysis of Education’s research and figures. I can tell you now that the sums don’t add up. Closing schools now will just end up costing more in the long term. What point is there in reaching a short term FTP target if the overall result equals a greater cost in just a few years time?”