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Richmond upon Thames Liberal Democrats:Covering the constituencies of Twickenham and Richmond Park |
School starts four months late
November 8, 2011 4:57 PM
• [Oct 15]: THIRTY children in the St Margaret's area are being forced to miss four months of school due to the council's failure to provide enough places in time for the start of the school year in September. There was a serious shortage of primary school places in the St Margaret's area this year and, after months of inaction and complacency, the Conservative council finally decided to provide an extra class at Orleans Infants School.
However, due to the lateness of the decision, it could not provide the extra classroom in time for the start of the school year, so children will have to wait until January to start school: a four month delay.
Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Cllr Malcolm Eady said: "This was always going to be a very difficult year because of the exceptionally high birth rate in 2007. The new Conservative administration cut the expansion programme we had in place for the St Margarets area, and for the last 9 months we have been demanding that they put in extra classes." "The planned permanent expansion at Orleans Infants, which we proposed in February 2010 and which the new Conservative administration put on hold, has still not got the go ahead.
"The Conservatives seem to lack any sense of urgency to solve the problem. The birth rate has not dropped significantly, and we know we will need more new sites. The Conservatives seem to hope that 'something will turn up'. If they are waiting for money from the government, then they may have a very long time to wait."
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