News

1st May 2009: Cabinet meeting approves decision to build single-form entry school at Brunel Fields. The details are here on page 19, "NEW PRIMARY SCHOOL - BISHOPSTON WARD": Cabinet Decisions 30th April 2009. Residents submitted statements and questions about Ashley House, the Councils answers are here: Public Forum Answers. During the meeting, the Brunel Fields school decision was agenda item 12 and had an associated report: New Primary School – Bishopston Ward.

The Evening Post reported the decision: Bristol primary gets the green light

3rd April 2009: Expansion of Sefton Park School won't be discussed for at least six years. Sefton Park School agreed to take an extra form of entry in 2009. One of the conditions of this agreement was that the Council would be "committed to not expanding the school further for at least six years". Read the Governors letter here: Governors Letter 3rd April 2009 and an article in the Evening Post here: Bristol schools agree to take extra pupils

25th March 2009: Is Ashley House safe? In a telephone conversation with Mick Branaghan on 25th March 2009, he admitted that the school has asked for bigger playground space and that one of the options is to demolish Ashley House. However he said that there are no plans to do anything with Ashley House for at least 12 months and that if the decision was taken to demolish Ashley House, the Council would consult again with the public because of the strength of feeling locally.

A resident has submitted a Freedom Of Information request on the issue which is not yet closed. See here: Demolition Of Ashley House.

3rd March 2009: Expansion plans are dropped! The new Lib Dem Cabinet have decided to build a single-form entry school on the Brunel Fields site as originally proposed back in 2006. This is great news for parents, prospective parents and residents. See the School Governors letter here: Expansion Update and Evening Post article here: Parents win Bristol school fight.

25th February 2009: The Labour Cabinet steps down! The Curse of AG-RO strikes again! This time the whole Cabinet has resigned and the Lib Dems have taken over. Cllr Peter Hammond no longer has the authority to make any decisions regarding Sefton Park. See the Evening Post here: Lib Dems take over Bristol City Council

The Liberal Democrats are in favour of a new school at Brunel Fields and have expressed a commitment to small, community-sized schools. We will be pressing them to make good on that commitment, and to reject the expansion of Sefton Park School.

25th February 2009: Big decision expected this Friday (27th). We were wrong, there was no big announcement on Sefton Park at the Council Meeting to discuss the budget. At a meeting between Cllr Hammond and local parents and residents that morning, he revealed that the Big Decision will be made before the end of February i.e Friday. The Evening Post reports on it here: Decision expected on plans to expand Bristol school. The article emphasises the improper influence of the Cricket Club on the Council.

24th February 2009: Cllr Peter Hammond to make announcement over expansion of Sefton Park. There is a special Council meeting on the 24th to discuss the Budget, during which Cllr Hammond will make his announcement. We expect him to give it the go-ahead. The details are here: Full Council Meeting. If you go down the page and click on the item "B: CAPITAL PROGRAMME AND CAPITAL STRATEGY 2009/10" you will see on page 3 "progress on new/replacement primary school provision at Sefton Park, Cabot and St Barnabas". You can watch it live here: Webcast

No public submissions are allowed at this meeting.

23rd February 2009: The Evening Post grills Bristol City Council over the lack of primary places. Read it here: The questions we put to Bristol City Council

18th February 2009: Bishopston parents furious about lack of local school places. The three local schools are hugely over-subscribed. So they propose to bus 4-year olds across the city! If they had not cancelled the promised new school on the Brunel Fields site, Bishopston would have a new school by this September. Read about it in the Evening Post here: Anger over wait for Bristol school places here: Pressure is on to find school solution and here: Bristol parents want more temporary classrooms.

29th January 2009: Small schools taken seriously in Manchester. When Manchester City Council faced similar choices to Bristol City Council they didn't base their decision on finances but on what is best for the children. They asked international expert Dr James Wetz for advice. Here's a quote from their report: "Research Recommendations 4.1 ... . It recommended schools designed on a scale, where children are known and well known by teachers". And another "The city’s school improvement agenda is based on ... enabling headteachers and governing bodies to develop their schools as personalised, supportive and responsive communities where young people thrive". Read the report here: Manchester City Council CYPS Scrutiny The interesting stuff is from page 5 onwards.

Bristol Council refuses to meet Dr James Wetz or take any outside advice. They think they know best.

28th January 2009: Third meeting with Cllr Hammond and CYPS. Some highlights:

• International expert Dr James Wetz accompanied us but wasn't allowed to speak because we hadn't informed the Council he would be there.

• Kate Campion flatly denied the School Governors statement from the Cabinet Meeting an 26th January (see below) saying that "When we met before Christmas the Governors did support the expansion plans".

• CYPS also admitted that EIAs had NOT been done for the expansion at Sefton PArk School, despite earlier reassurances to the contrary!

• Mr Mick Branaghan (CYPS officer) produced figures for area per pupil to justify the expansion at Sefton Park, but these contradicted those in the Atkins Report. We got the impression that they had been hastily thrown together but not checked properly.

Read the draft minutes here: Minutes of third meeting with Cllr Hammond

24th January 2009: More evidence that large schools are bad. This is from work done in America. "research shows there are significant and long-lasting costs in the form of lower levels of student achievement; more problems related to safety, violence, and discipline; and lower rates of attendance and graduation". It's an interesting read: Great Schools Issue Paper: School Size

22nd January 2009: School governors disagree with the Council! The Council's recommendation (see below) says "Governors are broadly supportive of the proposals as they stand" but the governors themselves disagree with that! At the Cabinet Meeting on 26th January 2009 they submitted a statement which says "We would like to make it absolutely clear that the Governors cannot support the expansion proposals as they currently stand". Read it here, Public Forum Section D4: Cabinet 26 January 2009 Public Forum

22nd January 2009: The Council publish their recommendation: "The recommendation is to take the project forward, but in design development provide solutions, where possible to the concerns raised - this is to achieve extra places in the school for local families".  The document is here: Council's recommendation for Sefton Park School Expansion. It summarises a lot that we have already read, but doesn't address the criticisms in the Atkins report, and only skims over the reservations expressed by the school governors.

21st January 2009: The Atkins report is published! The Council asked expert engineering consultancy Atkins to produce an independent report on Option 1 and it's on the CYPS website here: Atkins report on proposed expansion. It's very critical. It's 17 pages long but you can just read page 4 "Executive Summary" for a flavour, e.g. "2.3 The scheme does not bring the whole school up to current standards".

It also agrees with something else we have been saying all along but the Council refuse to acknowledge: Page 52 "5.2 Disadavantages ... The scale and form of the new building may be overbearing on a restricted site as the use of the roof for a MUGA effectively creates a three storey structure"

21st January 2009: School construction projects are a health risk for children.  From a Scottish Government website here: Managing Schools During Construction Projects. For example see item 17 "Dust and dirt: Apart from being particularly uncomfortable, airborne dust and dirt can give rise to medical complaints leading to staff and pupil absences". The construction work at Sefton Park will only be a few metres away from the children.

13th January 2009: Britain's top expert on historic buildings asks Bristol City Council to save Ashley House. SAVE Britain's Heritage have sent the Council a letter from Professor David Walker, the "leading authority on historic buildings in Britain". He says that similar villas in Edinburgh were all listed way back in the 70s and 80s and so should Ashley House. Read the letter here (Prof Walker's contribution at the bottom): SAVE Ashley House

13th January 2009: Liberal Democrat motion questioning expansion of Sefton Park. At today's Council Meeting. The motion asks the Council to re-consider most aspects of the expansion proposals. See the motion here, page 5: Council Meeting Agenda

12th January 2009: Second meeting with Cllr Peter Hammond and CYPS. A group of us held a second meeting with Peter Hammond and Kate Campion. They conceded that it would theoretically be possible for the Cabinet to reallocate funds to build at Brunel Fields and refurbish Sefton Park, but that this would highly irregular and create an unwelcome precedent. A full report will be here soon.

8th January 2009. The Curse Of AGRO strikes again! Having seen off Cllr Derek Pickup, now the Director of Children and Young Person Services Heather Tomlinson has left. She was forced to resign. Cllr Peter Hammond and Kate Campion should feel nervous. Read about it here: Bristol schools boss bows out. But who will make the decision now on the Sefton Park expansion? We intend to find out.

7th January 2009: Report on meeting with Cllr Peter Hammond and Children and Young Person Services (CYPS). We had a meeting with Cllr Hammond on 18th December 2008. Most of the relevant players in the Council were there. There was a "frank exchange of views" but it seems that there are some hard-boiled characters in CYPS (notably Programme Director Kate Campion) who are unwilling to compromise or listen. Read the report here: Meeting with Cllr Hammond and CYPS

2nd December 2008: Questions and statements at Council Meeting. We protested against the "collective reply" we received at the Cabinet Meeting. To no avail really, the Council's replies simply referred us back to that collective reply. Very very poor.  Read our questions here: Questions Asked By Members Of The Public For Written Reply 2nd December 2008. Note that there are no responses in that document.

30th November 2008: Councillor Peter Hammond offers to meet us! Finally our protests are starting to pay off.  After another Cabinet meeting where we made our presence felt Cllr Peter Hammond (Deputy Leader responsible for the Primary Review) has agreed to meet a small group to discuss the plans. Let's hope there is a real intention to listen to us, not just tick another "consultation" box. Read the Evening Post's report: They all make us cross

30th November 2008: Council obstruct our FOI requests. We have made several Freedom Of Information requests (see 20th November 2008 in the News section). Now the Council are trying to obstruct our requests by asking us to "clarify what information you require". It seems pretty clear to us. What do you think? Have a look here: Sefton Park School Expansion FOI request

The Bristol Blogger thinks it's illegal: Completely illegal Bristol City Council try-on of the week

27th November 2008: School Governors Newsletter Evaluating Option 1. Option 1 is the Council's preferred option (it can be seen here Sefton Park Schools Expansion Consultation) The Governors think it might offer some benefits but "will need to be modified hugely". That modification must include a complete redesign of the building to create a big courtyard. Read it here: Sefton Park Governing Body: Evaluation Of Option 1

27th November 2008: Fobbed off by Cllr Peter Hammond - Questions at Cabinet Meeting. Many people went to the time and trouble to send questions to this meeting. We were fobbed off with a collective reply which simply does not answer all the questions. The Council's website promises that they will answer written questions and they are failing to do so. Read the questions and the "collective reply" here: Questions Asked By Members Of The Public For Written Reply 27th November 2008

24th November 2008: Helen Holland and the Cricket Club. All along we suspected that the Cricket Club were influential behind the scenes in the Council's decision not to build a school at Brunel Fields, which was denied by the Council. Now we find that Council Leader Helen Holland has allowed her photograph to be used on promotional material for JBP, the PR company assisting the Cricket Club in their opposition to building a new school at Brunel Fields! And what is their role? To "Build strong, strategic relationships with key politicians at Bristol City Council to achieve their support and maximise GCCC’s involvement and influence in the planning process".

See the JBP press release here: Case study: Gloucestershire Cricket Club

24th November 2008: New Section "Qs and Ss" with Questions and Statements from previous and future meetings. Here: Qs and Ss.

24th November 2008: Statement at Children's Services Scrutiny Commission from Toni Burrows, concerning "the knock on effect to the local and wider community from the proposed expansion of Sefton Park School". Online copy here: Public Forum.

22nd November 2008: Lib Dems submitting a motion supporting our campaign to Full Council on Tuesday 2nd December. Read it here: Motion on Sefton Park school expansion to Full Council

20th November 2008: "Expansion Update from Governors" letter from Sefton Park Schools describing a meeting between the Governors and Local Authority Officers. Kate Campion says "a decision as to whether or not the expansion project is considered to be feasible or not would be made by the Local Authority at the end of November, or the beginning of December". Read it here: Expansion Update from Governors

20th November 2008: Freedom Of Information requests! We're fed up with not getting proper answers so some of us have submitted requests for information at the Freedom Of Information website. These four are fantastic, have a read. Make those Councillors work!

1. Failure of Council to post plans of sefton park schools expansion plans on Council website
2. Unpublished letters of support for Sefton Park School Expansion received by Peter Hammond
3. Cost of recent Sefton Park School Expansion consultation
4. Correspondence regarding new school on Brunel College Site

18th November 2008: AGRO attends the Call-In Scrutiny Committee hearing... and stirs it up. "We were told we shouldn't really be talking because it wasn't to do with sefton park - said we wanted to talk about the consultation so were allowed". Read it here: Good Show Sefton Park!

12th November 2008: Government reject Council's Primary Review Plan! "The Department for Children, Schools and Families has rejected the city council's bid for funding under the Primary Capital Programme.... Bristol is one of 15 out of 148 local authorities to be told further work is needed". The Government are sending in officers to help the Council do it properly. Read about it here: Bristol primary schools review in turmoil

11th November 2008: The Council's Primary Review Plans are "called-in" by fellow councillors. "Calling-in" happens when some councillors disagree with the Council and ask a Call-In Scrutiny Committee to look at the decisions made. Read about it here: Review of Bristol schools closure plans

10th November 2008: Previous statements and questions. You can read lots of previous statements and questions which have been asked (and answered) at many previous Council Meetings. Some have answers from the Councillors. It's here: Some Statements and Questions. The statements, questions and answers from  the last Cabinet Meeting are here: Last Cabinet Meeting QAs

10th November: Open Evening at Sefton Park School to discuss the proposed expansion, on Monday 10th November at 7.30pm. See the leaflet here: Open Meeting at the School

30th October 2008: Cabinet Meeting. Lots of questions were answered (badly) and statements read out at the Cabinet Meeting. One resident said "That went brilliantly! ... Peter Hammond looked very shaky indeed... definitely puts Hammond and Co on the back foot".

Read the public representations here: Questions And Statements. The questions and answers are in "Section B. Questions from residents & councillors" on page 17, the statements are in "Section C. Public forum representations relating to agenda items" on page 51. We think that the answers to the questions often sidestep the real issues!

30th October 2008: Expansion Plans and IRIS consultation information published. IRIS have finally published the information gathered during the consultation exercise, along with the plans for the 3 options. There's no answers to the questions raised - just the questions! Does that mean the so-called "consultation" is over??? Read it here: Sefton Park Schools Expansion Consultation

25th October 2008: Bristol Primary Review featured on the BBC and mentioned in the Politics Show on Sunday. Read it here: Bristol primaries under review and watch it here: Politics Show West

24th October 2008: Protest walk featured in Evening Post. "More than 100 children and their parents staged a demonstration at Sefton Park School to protest against plans for its expansion". Read it here: Protest Walk

24th October 2008: Expansion at Sefton Park confirmed! The Primary Review to be approved at the Cabinet Meeting has been released and confirms the expansion at Sefton Park. You can read it here: Latest Primary Review. Page 38: "Seven recommendations from Phases 1 and 2 are confirmed ... expand Sefton Park Infants & Juniors to 3FE on their current site". This document will be submitted for approval at the Cabinet Meeting on Tuesday on 30th October. Please send statements for the meeting! The deadline for statements is 12 noon Wednesday 29 October 2008.

24th October 2008: Demonstration walk from Sefton Park school to Brunel Fields at 3.45pm. We want to show the dangers of walking a large group of children along a busy main road. The Evening Post will be reporting and we hope a TV crew will be there too. Meet at 3:45pm at the green classroom block.

20th October 2008: Another Evening Post article! "Cricket club was put before Bristol school pupils". Read it here: Cricket Club

20th October 2008: CHANGE OF EMAIL ADDRESS!! Dates for your diary, deadline coming up! Cabinet Meeting on 30th October at 4pm. Deadline for questions is 5pm this Friday 24th October, send to ian.hird@bristol.gov.uk. Children's Scrutiny Commission at 2pm on 24th November, . Deadline for questions is 5pm Tuesday 18th November, send to Lee.Gallagher@bristol.gov.uk

Asking questions is more powerful than making a statement because the Council Officers cannot ignore you. They have to do something, and it has to be on the record.

18th October 2008: Comments in Evening Post. Follow-up comments to yesterday's article were printed in Saturday's edition!

17th October 2008: Article in Evening Post. Photo and full page article describing our campaign. See it here: Historic home to city mayors under threat. You can read the text of the article online here: Bristol school merger would see Ashley House demolished

16th October 2008: Report on Council Meeting. Andrew's report on the Full Council Meeting on Tuesday is here: Report on Full Council Meeting

21st October 2008: POSTPONED Open Evening at Sefton Park School to discuss the proposed expansion, on Tuesday 21st October at 7.30pm.

14th October 2008: Some questions answered. Two people received written answers to questions at the Children's Services Scrutiny Commission on Monday. You can read the replies here: Response to John-Paul's questions and here: Response to Merriel's Questions. A quote: "The City Council is not opposed to 1FE size schools"!

7th October 2008:   Upcoming Council Meetings. There are two Council Meetings next week and we will be making representations at both. The Children's Services Scrutiny Commission is at 2pm on Monday 13th October and and Full Council at 6pm on Tuesday 14th October. Both are appropriate! For the Children's Services Scrutiny Commission meeting send your representations to: Lee.Gallagher@bristol.gov.uk, for the Council meeting to ian.hird@bristol.gov.uk. Tell them at which meeting you wish the question to be answered!

Click here for detail of all meetings coming up: Council Meeting List

7th October 2008: Sefton Park School Governors Newsletter. Copy here: School Expansion Update Newsletter

1st October 2008:  New Plans. Blurry pictures of the new plans are available on the front page of the website: What's it going to look like?

1st October 2008:  Primary Review last minute change. There was a late alteration to the "Primary Review - Post Consultation Recommendations". It was added to the Recommendations at the last minute on the day of the Cabinet Meeting on 25th September! It concerns Sefton Park directly and says:

"3. Sefton Park. The Cabinet took a decision, earlier this year to look at creating a 3FE school at Sefton Park. It was agreed then, that the outcomes of feasibility would determine the way forward. This position has not changed"

We believe they had to add that comment because of the strength of opposition. Good!

Local copy of that addition: Primary Review  Recommendations Late Addition

30th September 2008:  Bats! Becky Coffin is the Nature Conservation Officer responsible for North Bristol and she has been informed of the presence of bats around Ashley House. She tells us that she has "contacted Michael Branaghan [Council Officer responsible], to bring to his attention the likely presence of bats using the site". So the Council will definitely have to conduct a Bat Survey before planning permission is granted. Becky's email is here: Bats and Demolition.

30th September 2008: Cabinet Minutes.  The minutes of the decisions made at the Cabinet Meeting on Monday 25th September 2008 are now available. There's a copy here: Cabinet Minutes 25th Sept 2008. In a nutshell, the Primary Review was all approved. The webcast of the meeting is also available here: Cabinet Meeting Webcast. Click on "Index Points" and scroll down to "Part B - 5. Primary Review - Post Consultation Recommendations" at 00:53:14 (not at 00:21:53). It's about an hour and a half in total but our representations are first.

30th September 2008: All of the First Phase consultation meetings are now over. Stella Man of IRIS is collating all the questions and will be passing them on to the Council for responses. She is still collecting questions. See The Campaign page.

29th September 2008: The architects are presenting the new plans to the Scout and Guide group in the Scout Hut at the end of Williamson Road on Monday at 8.15pm. Come along if you haven't seen the plans yet.

26th September 2008: SAVE Britain's Heritage issue a Press Release "calling on Bristol City Council to abandon plans to demolish a fine Italianate Victorian villa". Read it here: Save Ashley House

26th September 2008: The new plans presented at Sefton Park School last Monday were greeted with dismay. They are far worse than the earlier plans (shown further down this page). Many Public Forum representations were made to the meeting of the Cabinet on Tuesday. The minutes and webcast of the meeting are not yet available but you can read the representations here (search the document for "Sefton Park" or "Expansion"): Cabinet Public Forum Questions.The Primary Review was approved by the Cabinet. There's a report by the Evening Post here: Fate of three Bristol schools hangs in the balance

25th September 2008: Cabinet meeting to discuss the recommendations from the first stage of the Primary Review. Council House, College Green at 6pm on Thursday 25th September. A petition will be presented. Come along and make your voice heard! More details here:  Cabinet Meeting 25th September 2008

22nd September 2008: Following the consultation during Stage 1, the architects are presenting a number of possible new designs at meetings in the school on 22nd September 2008. More details here: Focus Group Meetings - Sefton Park Final

22nd September 2008: The "Primary Review - Post Consultation Recommendations" have been published - there's a copy here: Primary Review - Post Consultation Recommendations. Sefton Park is mentioned in several places, but the strength of local opposition is downplayed.

24th July 2008: Before the Council Meeting this Tuesday there was a demonstration by several local schools opposed to closures and amalgamations. It received widespread publicity including an item on BBC Points West and a report in the Evening Post, see here: Protests over Bristol schools shake-up. There was a full Public Gallery and Councillors must be fully aware of the strength of local opinion! Several questions concerning Sefton Park were asked by the public - the Council's replies can be read here: Questions Asked By The Public.

18th July 2008: *** The Governors have rejected the Expansion Plans! *** In their response to the Primary Review the Governors opposed the current amalgamation and expansion plans. Read their response here: Governors Response To Primary Review. Before they sent their response, the Governors held a meeting where they discussed the pros and cons with Kate Campion, the Councils Strategy Leader for Transforming Learning, Children and Young People's Services. That discussion is summarised here: School Expansion Update Newsletter

18th July 2008:  PROTEST AT THE COUNCIL HOUSE! There will be a protest at the Council House before the Cabinet Meeting next Tuesday, 22nd July. Lots of schools will be there. Bring banners and loud voices at 5pm. All welcome!

15th July 2008: We now have a FORUM! See the new link on the side bar on the left. Please read the "Welcome" notice in the forum.

15th July 2008: Article in today's Evening Post reporting that the Governors of Ashley Down Infant School have described Bristol City Council's Primary Review as "ill-conceived":  BRISTOL SCHOOLS PLAN IS 'ILL-CONCEIVED'

13th July 2008: There is a Cabinet meeting of Bristol Council on Tuesday 22nd July at 6pm. The deadline for questions in writing was Friday 11th July 2008 but you can make a petition or statement up to the last day before the meeting. A written question requires an answer during the meeting, a petition or statement do not.

13th July 2008: There will be another Parents and Residents Meeting to discuss the Expansion Plans on Tuesday 15th July 2008 at 8pm in Sefton Park Infants Hall. This will decide questions to put to the Governors at their meeting on Wednesday 17th July 2008.

13th July 2008: New items in Documents:
(1) Governors Newsletter summarising the concerns raised at the Open Meeting on 30 June 2008: Summary of Concerns raised at Open Meeting
(2) Article in Evening Post after Parents Meeting: Parents hit out at school merger plan
(3) Notes from the Parents Meeting on 8th July 2008: Notes Of Parents Meeting
(4) January 2008 Governors Newsletter describing the expansion: School Expansion
(5) Article in the Evening Post by architect George Ferguson about the expansion of Ashton Gate primary school: Bigger isn't always better

3rd July 2008: Sefton Park School have arranged a Meeting For Parents in the Infants Hall at 8pm on Tuesday 8th July 2008, to discuss the Expansion Proposals. If you have a child at the school - or hope to have a child there - please attend. AGRO hope to make a represntation.

3rd July 2008: New links on The Campaign page. You have until 18th July 2008 to register your objections on the Council's Primary Review Consultation web page. While you're online, why not fill in the IRIS form too!

30th June 2008: The Governors Open Meeting tonight was very lively. The audience consisted of parents, residents, teachers and other "stakeholders" and were unanimously against the Expansion taking place on the Sefton Park site. We hope to have a link to the minutes when they are available.

26th June 2008:  Andrew Nicholls has circulated Newsletter 4 to residents

25th June 2008: Sefton Park School have arranged an Open Meeting in the Infants Hall on Monday 30th June 2008, 7.00-8.30pm to discuss the Expansion Proposals. School Governors Newsletter here. Residents should attend!

20th June 2008: IRIS ("Involving Residents In Solutions") have circulated a letter to residents asking them to fill in a form giving for their opinions on the expansion. You can see the letter here and the form here (first page only). You can see the whole form online on  the Bristol City Council website here.

3rd June 2008: the chairman of the Ashley Grange Residents Association received an email regarding the promised Public Consultation process, which would take place between June and July 2008. So far, no other residents have been informed and there has been no news of how the process will be conducted.

May 2008: Cllr Derek Pickup was replaced by Deputy Leader Cllr Peter Hammond in a Council "shake-up".

May 2008: Bristol Council released the Primary Review showing that the plans for Sefton Park are just one of many changes planned for Bristol between 2008 and 2013.

April 2008: An application was made to English Heritage for listed building status. This application is under consideration.

March 2008: The local residents held a meeting in the school with Cllr. Derek Pickup and Local Government Officer Piers Brunning. They told us of the timetable for the plans and what might happen next. residents felt there were many issues left unanswered. You can read the minutes here.