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The Successful Village Campaign to Save Stoney Middleton Primary School!

Success! Stoney School is Saved!

At 3.30pm on Monday 14th May 2007 the Stoney Middleton School Action committee issued the following statement.

"The Schools Adjudicator has decided that our school will remain open.

The adjudicator recognised the strength of feeling in the village about our school and was also staggered that the Local Authority had deemed the A623 to be not hazardous!

Thanks to you all for your determination, support and letter writing throughout our campaign.

Good Luck to all the pupils taking SATS in Stoney and other threatened Derbyshire Schools!!!

Schools Adjudicator Report - Summary, conclusion and determination.

Press Coverage - 5 stories.

The Campaign

Derbyshire County Council wrote to parents on Tuesday 10th October to say that they wanted to close Stoney Middleton CE Primary School next summer. The school is not just a wonderful school for the children, it's the centre of life in the village, which has no other public building. If we let them close the school, the heart of the village will have been taken away.

What's happened!

The First 3 Months Informal Consultation - October 11 2006 to January 11 2007

Despite a massive campaign by Stoney Middleton School governors, parents and friends supported by Patrick McLoughlin MP, County Councillor Nigel Allwood and District Councillor Cate Hunt Derbyshire County Council voted at the Council Meeting on December 12 2006 to propose the closure of Stoney Middleton school from August 31 2007.

Minutes of Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Meeting 12th December 2006.

Derbyshire County Council post Proposed Closure Notice.

But this was not the end!

Derbyshire County Council posted the proposed closure notice in The Derbyshire Times (page 75) and at the school on on Thursday 11 January.

But as the following notice makes clear this was not the final decision and everyone was urged to continue in their active objection to the proposed closure.

The notice read:-

"Stoney Middleton C of E (VC) Primary School"

Notice is hereby given in accordance with section 29(1) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 that Derbyshire County Council intends to discontinue Stoney Middleton CofE Primary School, High Street, Stoney Middleton, Hope Valley, Derbyshire, S32 4TL on 31 August 2007.

School Standards and Framework Act 1998. .

There is appropriate provision and places available at two schools, each within 1.5 miles of Stoney Middleton. These schools are Curbar Primary School, Calver Bridge, Calver, Hope Valley, Derbyshire, S32 3XA and Eyam C of E (VC) Primary School, Church Street, Eyam, Hope Valley, Derbyshire, S32 5QH.

The Authority is undertaking an assessment as to whether the route to Curbar Primary School might be designated as a dangerous route. If this should be the case, them free transport will be made available for pupils travelling from Stoney Middleton to attend Curbar Primary School.

Within six weeks after the publication of these proposals, any person may object to or make comments on the proposals by sending the representations to:

Strategic Director for Children and Younger Adults (DEV/DEH), Derbyshire County Council, County Offices, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 3AG.

Within one month after the end of the representation period, the LEA will send to the Schools Organisation Committee for the area copies of all representations made (and not withdrawn in writing) within the representation period together with the Authority's observations on them.

Signed Bruce Buckley - Date 11 January 2007

The next stage of the fight for our school began. It was a legal process and once again the village lent its support

The process started on 11/01/07 when the County issued the Statutory Notices for closing the school.

We had a six week period in which to express our objections. This period ended on 22 February 2007.

Given the problems we had last time (of our letters remaining unopened because they were hand delivered) could you stick on a stamp and post them please?

If there are no objections received, the school will close!

Before writing your letter please read:

"The Report of the Strategic Director for Children and Younger Adults - STONEY MIDDLETON PRIMARY SCHOOL - PROPOSED REORGANISATION (School Planning & Support)".

DERBYSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL - CABINET- 12 DECEMBER 2006 - Report of the Strategic Director for Children and Younger Adults.

This report was prepared following the previous consultation and you will be able to comment and argue on specific points.

Alternatively a letter similar to the one you sent last time would be fantastic or you can e-mail if you prefer to dee.hill@derbyshire.gov.uk.

Write to

Strategic Director for Children and Younger Adults (ref DVE/DAH), Derbyshire County Council, County Offices, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 3AG.

Some possible points to assist when doing letters (as before)

Write about your own experiences of the school, and talk about the success stories of former pupils. Complete the questionnaire at "Education is for Life not SAT's".

Our children fit in well when they go to a large secondary school.
The school is the heart of village life and closure would have a profound effect on village; mention all the community groups that use the school, and imagine how the character of the village might change if it had no school.
The school building is the only public building in the village; it is the registered 'evacuation centre' for the village in an emergency; for instance flood or major road accident. If the school is closed the building will revert to the church who are obliged to sell it for the market price.
Governors were not consulted about any closure proposals, nor were any alternatives to closure considered.
Closure would mean that our children would have to travel to the suggested school along a very heavily used major road with limited footpaths.

Assuming there are objections (absolute certainty!) a group called the School Organisation Committee will meet on 8th March at 6.30 pm at County Hall in Matlock to vote on the closure of our School. This is a Public meeting!

If you can afford more stamps or have email copy your letters to Patrick McLoughin MP and Derbyshire County Councillors and the local newpapers. Tell your friends - particularly old pupils - and ask them to write and support the school.

Derbyshire County Councillors.

The School Organisation Committee is made up of four groups:

Derbyshire County Councillors (including Cllr Alan Charles).
Representatives from the Church of England,
Representatives from the Roman Catholic Church
A Governors Group (not ours).

To close the school at this stage, there must be a unanimous decision.

If the vote is not unanimous the Schools Adjudicator, a government appointed body, will be called in to review the whole situation and give a final verdict.

The School Organisation Committee has a legal obligation to consider, not just educational issues, but the wider impact of the school closure on our village community.

The Walk to Curbar School

County Councillors (3 Labour and 1 Conservative) have decided in their wisdom (by a 3 to 1 majority) that the route to Curbar School is not hazardous for our children to walk along, a report will be put to the Cabinet soon about this so watch this space.

DCC Hazardous Routes Panel.

Letter from County Councillor Keith Morgan .

Parents on the Warpath.

Blow for Stoney School Supporters.

The School Organisation Committee

The School Organisation Committee met on the 8th March. At the meeting the DCCl put forward their case for closure proposals, then we put our case forward.

Afterwards each group on the committee went into separate rooms to make a collective decision. The governors group and the Church of England representatives opposed the council and supported us on the basis of the effect closure would have on our village and the hazardous nature of the road.

This is the best outcome we could have wished for at this stage.

As the decision was two for and two against (a brilliant outcome), an Independent Schools Adjudicator had to be appointed to make the final decision about the councils proposals for closure. (The Local Authority needed a unanimous vote to close the school without further recourse).

Stoney Middleton School - A vibrant school at the heart of the community - The Action Committee submission to The School Organisation Committee.

BBC report of School Organisation Committee.

The Campaign so Far - October 10 2006 to January 11 2007

The following paragraphs detail the campaign staged by Friends of Stoney Middleton School during the Informal Consultation Period from October 10 2006 when the parents were informed of the proposed closure to January 11 2007 when the Proposed Notice of Closure was posted.

DCC Cabinet Meeting - Tuesday 17th October

The DCC cabinet voted to put the closure proposal to an informal public consultation. The cabinet were surprised when 13 parents, governors and friends visited County Hall to listen to the proceedings. The Stoney Middleton contingent were dismayed at the negative attitude towards the School and noted the inaccuracies in the Consultation document which have since been acknowledged by Councillor Alan Charles, Cabinet Member for School Planning and Support.

Cabinet Meeting .

Consultation on the Future of Stoney Middleton Primary School .

Cabinet Agenda Item - Consideration of the future of Stoney Middleton School. .

Putting Pupils First? .

Emergency Village Meeting - Wednesday 18th October

74 people including staff, governors, county and parish councillors, parents, pupils, village residents and friends of the school attended a village meeting on Wednesday 18th October. Apologies were received from a further 45 people.

Peter Hobson, Chair of Governors, introduced County Councillor Nigel Allwood who said he had visited the school on many occasions and had been impressed by the vibrancy of the work displayed.

Nigel had been surprised when asked to a meeting on Wednesday 11 October with Councillor Alun Charles and David Humphreys (Head of Development) and handed the consultation documents. Nigel pointed out to Councillor Charles that if the school closed it would be a significant loss as it was the only place where village activities and meetings could take place. He also took with him a copy of Stoney Middleton - A Working Village - which demonstrated that the school is at the heart of village life.

Nigel encouraged everyone to write letters as the number of letters received has to be declared at Council Meetings.

The Acting Vice Chair of Governors explained the actions of the Governors after they received Beth Ely's letter requesting retirement as head teacher in July 2006 which she gave them a term early in January 2006 to allow ample time to appoint a successor.

The Governors employed Bob Ashford (County Education department) to advise on the appointment of a new head teacher. He suggested three options:-

Closure of the school - The Governors said: "This is not an option".
Federated status:- a head teacher manages two schools and resources are shared. The governors were led to believe Curbar school had expressed an interest but this was untrue.
Appoint a new head

Unfortunately the Governors were unable to appoint and agreed to advertise a second time in the Autumn as Sue Fitzpatrick had agreed to be the acting head teacher.

It was also explained that the school budget was robust despite the fact that it costs Derbyshire County Council (DCC) £5,678 per pupil at Stoney school compared with a county wide average of £2,640.

An Action Committee was appointed and an action plan discussed.

DCC is rated an "excellent" authority and its logo is "Improving Life for Local People". The governments current agenda is "Every Child Matters"

Every Child Matters.

Emergency Village Meeting.

Dulcie on Radion Sheffield.

The Campaign - October 19th to 30th

In next ten days Stoney Middleton set to work to convince Derbyshire County Council that the school should be kept open with a four pronged campaign:-

Letter writing:- Over 150 individual letters were written by villagers and other supporters and forwarded to the Action Committee by post boxes in the village shops. These were copied 64 times and individually addressed to each of the County Councillors. Eleven sacks were delivered to County Hall on Monday 30th October to allow plenty of time for the staff to sort and deliver the post. In addition an unknown numbers of letters and emails were posted to the individual councillors.
9000 letters to County Hall.
Posters:- An enormous number of posters ranging from 20ft banners to car stickers and including individually designed pictures produced during their holidays by the pupils were printed and displayed throughout the village.
Media:- In the first week the Campaign was front page news in the Derbyshire Times and Matlock Mercury. Follow-up articles appeared regularly in both papers and the Buxton Advertiser so that a total of at least 17 articles appeared before Christmas detailed. BBC Radios Sheffield and Derby have interviewed parent Dulcie Jones, governor Lyn Holyoake and ex head teacher Beth Ely.
17 Articles in the Local Press.
Website:- The website was up and running by on Saturday October 21st and has averaged over 44 visitors a day in the last two weeks.
BBC Radio.
BBC Radio.

Derbyshire County Council Meeting - Monday 1st November

A group of parents and friends of Stoney Middleton school attended Derbyshire Council full council meeting on Wednesday 1st November to ask questions of Councillor Alan Charles regarding the future of Stoney Middleton School.

Stoney Goes to Council - Michael Miller.

Stoney goes to Council - Marija Nicholson.

Public Consultation - Tuesday 2nd November

Over 150 parents, children, village residents, former pupils - in fact the whole community united at the only Public Consultation meeting on the closure of Stoney Middleton School in the school on Thursday 2nd Novemebr to express their anger at the closure proposals. The local MP - the Right Hon Patrick McLoughlin attended, to support the village in its campaign to save the school.

Councillor Alan Charles introduced his colleagues:-

David Humphrey - Head of Development - Schools Places Planning Capital Programme
Dee Hill - Senior Assistant Education Officer Development - Children and Younger Adults who will produce the report to cabinet at the end of this infomal consultation. Your comments regarding the consultation process should be addressed to Dee at Dee.Hill@Derbyshire.gov.uk
Chris Tilling - Deputy Assistant Director in the Education Improvement Department
Phil Moncur - Director of Education - Diocese of Derby

The meeting which lasted for over two hours covered a wide range of topics but these can be summarised as follows:-

The quality of education - what does Stoney Middleton want for our children?
Quality Education.
How much does it cost?
Is it safe - and would it be safe to walk children to school along the A623? Even if the pavements and crossings were made safe what about carbon monoxide poisioning from the exhaust fumes at child level? And do we really want out children to arrive at school at best covered in mud and at worst wet through!
Is it safe - and would it be safe to walk children to school along the A623? Even if the pavements and crossings were made safe what about carbon monoxide poisioning from the exhaust fumes at child level? And do we really want out children to arrive at school at best covered in mud and at worst wet through!
Is the A623 Safe.
A623 - medium high risk EuroRAP.
Has the Cabinet and the Council been provided with accurate information? Particularly with regard to the appointment of a new head teacher and the possiblity of federation.
The Whole Truth.
Is the DCC indulging in petty bureaucracy with regard to the failure to open the 9000 letters delivered by our own children - Do they really think we would risk their lives? And removing the posters from the lampposts on the A623 which posed a traffic hazard!.
We're not terrorists.
The strange case of the suspect letters.

Finally Cllr Charles promised to investigate the provision of a number of facilities which the Parish Council had been trying to provide for up to thirty years. These include a controlled crossing or flashing speed limits, flood control at the bottom of Coombes Dale and affordable housing so that more young families could stay in the village

Promises, Promises, Promises.

Email from County Councillor Keith Morgan to all County Councillors.

Letter to Councillor Alan Charles from Kevin Mason.

The Derbyshire District Council Area Community Forum - Monday 6 November

Six Stoney Middleton residents attended the District Council's Area Community Forum on Monday 6th November at Agricultural Business Centre, Bakewell and explained to the councillors and public their concerns regarding the proposed closure of Stoney Middleton School.

Stoney at Area Community Forum.

Conclusion of Informal Consultation

The informal consultation closed on November 27th, and the DCC cabinet decided at their meeting on December 12 to recommend closure of the school and proceed to formal consultation. - see above.

Stoney school fight goes to consultation.

Campaigners' show of defiance as council decides to axe school - THE FIGHT GOES ON.