A Personal Plea

[Bean_wannabe]

As some of you may know, a certain Secretary of State known as Ed Balls has been clamping down on education in Britain. As a result of new procedures, Gloucestershire has been deemed unsatisfactory.

This appears to be fine, but it has had repercussions. Specifically, the careerists in the county council have desperately been looking for a target that they can use to show they are 'doing something' to improve the situation.

A bit of background to the education is Gloucester. There are a total of FOUR grammar schools in the city, each with entrance exams, each taking the top students. This leaves the six non-selective schools in the area with an obviously reduced 'quality' (though I use the word in the loosest sense) of students.

Enter Bishops' College. In 2006, a school called Oxstalls closed, to reopen as Bishops' College, a Church of England Secondary School. This was welcomed by the community and the council. The exam results have been steadily improving, and Ofsted have given mostly positive reviews.

So given this new problem, the council has decided to close Bishops' and another school, and merge them into an 'academy' in the middle of the city. Ignoring the fact that:
-This method has been shown to be singularly ineffectual in other parts of the country
-The academy will have the same students as the 'failing' schools and would therefore have the same results
-This is an obviously rushed decision, as they hope to have this done at the end of this school year after making their final decision in April
-It is highly unlikely to be a faith school, upsetting a lot of parents, students and teachers
-Moving schools will disrupt the learning of everyone, especially those approaching their GCSEs
-The increased distance to school will cause problems for many, and may well stop students from attending

Despite all this, the council is likely to go ahead, mostly because there is an election coming up and they stand to make a lot of money from selling the land gained by demolishing the school.

Obviously, I believe that this should not happen, and would very much appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to sign an online petition. Hopefully, if we can get enough people on-side we can change the minds of the council and save the school. I have a personal connection with the school, and truly believe that closing it would have a detrimental effect on education in Gloucester.

More information can be found here or the petition itself is here.

Please also publicise this any way you can - the wider our reach the better.

Many thanks.