Woodlands Academy could close under plans to create a new super school in Coventry

[dutchman]

Woodlands Academy is set to close and merge with neighbouring Tile Hill Wood School under plans to create a new super school in Coventry.



A letter was put on Tile Hill Wood School's website tonight outlining plans for pupils from the Woodland Academy's Broad Lane site to be moved one mile down the road to the Nutbrook Avenue school from September.

The letter stated that proposals had been drawn up because it was "unviable" for Woodlands Academy "to continue in its current form".

It also stated that there was a decreased number of parents who wanted single-sex education for their children.

Governors and school bosses have proposed that a single co-educational academy, called The Coventry West Academy, should replace both schools. It will be based at the Tile Hill Wood School site.

Bosses at Woodlands, Tile Hill Wood and Westwood Academy had campaigned against the creation of free school Finham Park II over concerns there would not be enough pupils to go around and jobs could be put at risk.

The free school opened in temporary accommodation in September at the existing Finham Park site, in Green Lane, but will move to the former Land Registry site, in Torrington Avenue.

The letter which will be sent to parents of both Woodlands and Tile Hill Wood pupils tomorrow reads: "For some time now, student numbers in the west of Coventry have been declining. In addition to this, the number of parents choosing a single sex education for their children has also decreased.

"Woodlands Academy is now unviable to continue in its current form and so we are proposing a single co-educational academy, to be known as The West Coventry Academy, based on the Tile Hill Wood site."

If plans go ahead, then a phased integration would begin in September this year.

Students starting Year 7, 10 or Post-16 in September this year would be taught on the Tile Hill Wood site from the start of the next academic year.

Students starting Years 8 or 9 this year would be fully integrated by September 2017.

Students starting Year 11 in September 2016 will remain taught separately on both sites.

A formal consultation will open tomorrow until Tuesday April 12.

The Governing Boards of both schools will decide whether or not to consider with plans after the consultation.

The summary of the consultation outcome will then be sent to the Department for Education for their consideration.

Parents and stakeholders can have their say by emailing their comments to WCAconsultation@tilehillwoodschool.co.uk

[dutchman]

Woodlands Academy headteacher under fire after accusing pupils of 'mob like behaviour'



Parents of pupils at Woodlands Academy in Coventry have been left furious after youngsters upset at the proposed closure of their school were accused of ‘mob-like behaviour’ by their headteacher.

Woodlands headteacher Roger Harris has come under fire after he sent an email to parents urging them to reprimand their children for ‘adding to the stresses of staff’.

The email was sent as hundreds of Woodlands pupils prepared to walk out in protest at plans to close the all-boys school and merge with the nearby Tile Hill Wood girls’ school.

A copy of the email has been seen by the Telegraph and reads: “We’ve had a number of issues with groups of boys behaving poorly today. I totally understand that the boys are upset by this situation and it is important that their voice is heard.

“However, at a time when we have very upset group of staff and we are under the spotlight from a manner of people/agencies, this is not helpful.

"If anything the boys are adding to the stresses of the staff and making those on the outside think that a closure would be in the best interests of the school.

“I e-mailed all staff yesterday sharing my concerns for them but making them aware that the school still needed to deliver a top quality education for the boys.

"In addition, the boys also need to do their part in the continued smooth running of the school and this behaviour is helping no-one.

“Please could I ask you, as a matter of urgency, to speak to your son(s) and make them understand that they do have a voice but it will not be heard if they continue with this mob-like behaviour!

“Can I also take this opportunity to thank those boys who have conducted themselves appropriately and ALL the parents that have sent in supportive comments, it is very much appreciated.”

The email prompted angry responses from parents and members of the ‘Woodlands & Tile Hill Wood Schools Coventry - Save Our Schools’ public Facebook group.

Lucy Barbara Brooks said: “Absolutely fuming! Mob mentality? I am totally in support of the staff as they have been treated abhorrently however that letter was just him trying to stop a protest. Woodlands has always stood for the boys and staff encourage free speech so tough!

“The description of behaviour also makes me wonder how disconnected he is. Boys who are upset will naturally be noisy and angry, they are lost as no one is telling them anything and they want to support their teachers too.”

Natalie Poole said: “I think it’s disgusting. 'The boys need to be better behaved as it’s a very hard and difficult time for the staff'? What about the boys? I’m not surprised they are not behaving in top form at the min! Furious.”

Jo Cox said: “How the hell are the boys feeling! Totally disgusting email.”

Almost 2,000 people have signed an online petition against the merger which was set up by 17-year-olds Georgina Toon and Kris Roscoe, both former Tile Hill Wood and Woodlands students, now studying at the West Coventry Sixth Form.

The National Union of Teachers said it was “extremely concerned” about job losses if a bid to merge the schools goes ahead.

[dutchman]

Under-threat Woodlands Academy refused lifeline by Government, says Coventry MP

A Coventry MP has claimed the Government refused a lifeline to a city academy facing closure.

Geoffrey Robinson (Labour, Coventry North West) said the board of governors at Woodlands Academy wrote to the Department for Education last year to request £2million to keep the school open – but it was rejected.

The boys-only school is set to close after more than six decades and merge with neighbouring girls’ school Tile Hill Wood under plans to create a new school in the city.

It’s proposed a single co-educational academy, called West Coventry Academy, should replace both schools.

A spokesman from the Department for Education said it would not be issuing a statement in response to Mr Robinson’s claim.

The DfE said the Regional School Commissioner’s office was aware of ongoing discussions between Woodlands and Tile Hill Wood “but at this stage, this is a matter for the schools and trusts”.

Mr Robinson said: “Parents and children rightly feel very angry and passionate about the school, the consultation process so far has been a disaster and handled very poorly, as yet I’ve still not been written to by the headteacher about the closure.

"I believe the consultation process should be extended to give us every opportunity there is to keep the school open.”

Mr Robinson said he knew the opening of Finham Park 2 would have an impact on student numbers in the area. He said the Government spent £8million to buy the former Land Registry office for Finham Park 2.

He added: “Yet they say they have no money to keep Woodlands Academy open?

“The Tory Government is fixated with opening more academies and free schools rather than on the quality of teaching. Focusing obsessively on school structures at the expense of what matters most in our classrooms - the quality of teaching.

“The Tories’ free market approach to providing new school places just isn’t working and is creating a crisis in school places. The provision of new places needs proper planning and co-ordination.

"Yet this Government’s fixation is with free schools, which can be opened where there is no shortage of school places, which is exactly what’s happened here.

“It is time for Tory ministers to reinstate local input on planning for new places and remove the bureaucracy that councils face when it comes to opening and expanding schools. Families in Coventry deserve a better approach to planning for school places.

“The free school policy will continue to lead to increased social segregation, it will mean resources are taken away from other schools such as Woodlands Academy, and lead to the privatisation of the school system.”

No one at Woodlands Academy was available to comment.

[dutchman]

Sadness as pupils at Woodlands Academy in Coventry leave for the final time



Pupils have left Woodlands Academy for the final time.

There were hugs, good luck wishes and a few tears as pupils and teachers said their goodbyes and the gates were closed to the all-boys school.

The school, in Broad Lane, Eastern Green, Coventry, is being merged with Tile Hill Wood School, because of financial pressures and falling pupil numbers.

The closure means the end of single sex state education in Coventry.

Pupil Cameron Clayton, aged 13, said: “In the last assembly Mrs Pearman who was taking the assembly was quite emotional so we all did three cheers for her and lots of us gave her a hug.

“The school closing is a bit upsetting. Some of my friends are going to different schools.”

His dad Malcolm, who campaigned for the school to stay open, said: “I’m still pretty fed up about it and we are still waiting for answers from the powers that be.

“People talk about the future but nobody worries about the kids at the time. The thing my son was dreading was saying goodbye to his teachers for the last time.”

Becky Jones, who has a son in year nine at the school and another in the final year of primary school, said: “It’s quite an emotional time. It’s just very sad.

“My boys aren’t going to Tile Hill they’re going to Westwood. Westwood is a much smaller school. It’s going to take a couple of years before it will all settle at Tile Hill.”

Daniel Green, aged 11, who began at the school in September last year said: “It’s bad because I have only just started to settle in.”

Parent and former pupil Jimmy Biggs said: “It’s a shame. I used to go to this school but there’s nothing I can do about it closing. My hands are tied.

“I went to all the meetings but it was already set in stone.”

His son Owen, 14, said: “I think I’ll miss the sport most. I’ll miss the football.”

A consultation around the future of the school was launched when it was first suggested it could shut.

It was later suggested that the school could be moth-balled instead of shut - giving the council the option of re-opened it in the future.

Geoffrey Robinson MP even lobbied the school’s minister in an effort to keep Woodlands open.

The school was first opened in September 1954, making it one of the first comprehensive schools in the country.

[dutchman]

Woodlands Academy site ‘in negotiations to be sold’

WOODLANDS ACADEMY site is set to be sold for development, a council document has revealed.

In a memo to councillors reviewing polling stations, Coventy Council appears to have confirmed the site of the historic all-boys comprehensive school will be sold for future housing development.

Buried at the bottom of the document, which stated the council needed to find a new location for a polling station following the closure of the school in June this year, it read: “Woodlands Academy: School closed and land in negotiations to be sold – Look for alternative location.”

This is the first mention of the site being used for development following its closure and the relocation of the boys to neighbouring all-girls Tile Hill Wood school in Nutbrook Avenue from the start of term in September this year.

Woodlands Ward councillor Gary Ridley said he was shocked when he read the ‘appalling’ memo and called for the council to come clean about their plans for the site.

“There have been a lot of rumours swirling around in the community for some time about the council’s plans to sell the site.

“But each time I went to council officers to confirm whether they were true I was told the council has no plans to develop the site.

“Either the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing in the council, or there has been a serious level of deception.”

Coun Ridley said he and fellow Conservative ward councillors, Coun Peter Male and Coun Julia Lepoidevin, were now calling on the council to officially state its plans for the future of the site.

But he also said he understood the Woodlands Academy land was covered by a legal covenant, meaning the site has to be retained for educational use.

“We’d like to see education returned to the Woodlands Academy site at some point in the future,” Coun Ridley explained.

“It should be a centre of learning for the community and I’d support any plans for a quality educational facility there.

“At the end of the day the council is pushing for more and more development in the Woodlands ward and in the Eastern Green area, but they are not thinking about where the children in those new homes will be educated.

“Let’s not forget the pupils of Woodlands Academy are the real victims in this situation – they have been forced to leave behind the school they love and start again only to now hear this news.”

Coventry Council has been contacted for a response.

[dutchman]

Apparent 'sale' of Woodlands Academy down to clerical error, says council

A clerical error has been blamed for giving Coventry councillors the impression the council planned to sell off land at the site of the city’s former Woodlands Academy.

The news came as a shock to councillors who learned of the move in a note on the back of a memo about polling stations.

According to councillors, buried at the back of the document was the note: ‘Woodlands Academy: School closed and land in negotiations to be sold - look for alternative location.’

However, a council spokesman said: “The database of polling stations was sent to all members again today as there was an error in the Woodlands notes. This should simply have read that the school was closed.

“A junior member of staff made the error but it was just that – a simple error.”

Lying bastards!

[rebbonk]

CCC telling lies? Well, I never!

[dutchman]

Secret council emails reveal 'public misled' over Woodlands Academy school site future

SECRET council emails have uncovered private discussions with developers over the potential sale of the Woodlands Academy site, despite previous council denials.

Conservative councillors used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the emails which they say expose council denials issued in August this year, which ‘misled the public’.

Woodlands Academy secondary school for boys is merging with nearly Tile Hill Wood girls’ school under a controversial plan.

The future of the whole site including the playing fields has been the subject of fierce debate, with hopes it could be retained for educational use.

Governors had argued the merger – due to be completed next September – was due to a fall in pupil numbers at the single sex boys’ school, although the Finham 2 ‘free school’ was also granted permission to open in nearby Torrington Avenue, Tile Hill.

The private emails on August 10 show developers approached the council over acquiring the site.

They also reveal the council is planning to undertake a secretive review into the future use of the site which could lead to the sale of land, Tory councillors for Woodlands say.

In the exchange, senior council officer Paul Beesley pledges to alert the developer if there is a decision to sell the land – offering to maintain regular contact while the review is taking place. It is not known who the developer is as the information has been redacted (deleted).

Conservatives say the emails contradict Coventry City Council’s official position that there had been no talks with developers or planning for the site’s future.

Days after the private email exchange, the Tories say a briefing was sent to councillors claiming the land was in negotiations to be sold.

A statement from Woodlands Conservative councillors continues: “Dismissed as an error by the council, it’s understood that the officer who wrote the note has now left their position.

“There is currently an agreement allowing the community to use sports facilities at the school. However, the council are expected to take control of the site in late 2017 under Department for Education rules. They would then be free to begin disposing of the site.”

Coun Gary Ridley said: “In August, the council categorically denied all of this and it begs the question who knew what at the time. Was there a deliberate attempt by senior officers and councillors to mislead the public?”

Fellow Woodlands ward councillor, Cllr Peter Male said: “The current situation is unacceptable and we’d like to see education returning to the Woodlands Academy site… We believe that parents and residents have a right to know what’s going on and they should be consulted fully.”

Coun Julia Lepoidevin who also represents Woodlands ward, said; “Despite those denials we now discover, through Freedom of Information laws, that they really are considering selling the land. We need to know what the council are really planning to do with the site when it reverts back to the local authority next year.”

[rebbonk]

Was there a deliberate attempt by senior officers and councillors to mislead the public?

I think we all know the answer to that!

If this can be proven, there may well be a case of malfeasance in public office to be answered via the courts.

[Melisandre]

If they have what else and how far will they go in deceiving on other things.