There is a meeting at the Guildhall at 5:30pm on Tuesday 10th August when a cross-party group of Councillors will review the Conservative Cabinet’s decision to move to close Culverhay School.

Both Will and Shaun have signed the call in request as have 25 other Liberal Democarat and Labour Councillors.

The reasons stated in the Call-In are:

* The consultation was based on the scenario of closing three schools and reopening two – one in the north and one in the south of the city. This scenario was approved by the majority of respondents (66%). By abandoning this scenario and recommending the closure of one school in the south, the Cabinet has disenfranchised residents who, believing that the outcome of the consultation would be a new, coeducational school at Culverhay (which is what the community has wanted for a long time), did not respond to the consultation in large numbers.
* The decision is premature. The availability of ‘Building Schools for the Future’ funding was a significant driver of reorganising secondary provision in Bath. Given that this funding stream is no longer available following the change in Government, the Cabinet has not adequately considered the need to wait until the situation regarding schools legislation and future funding mechanisms is more certain.
* The Cabinet has decided that there should be no change to schools in Keynsham, but the option of no change to schools in Bath has not been considered under section 9 of the report. This is inconsistent.
* If the primary purpose of the review is to improve educational standards, it is inconsistent to close a school which is rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted but to keep both schools in Keynsham, which have lower Ofsted ratings, open. Furthermore, insufficient consideration has been given to the extra services provided at Culverhay school to pupils and to the community (e.g. leisure centre, extracurricular activities, links with primary schools and Bath Spa University) and to the ‘value added’ to pupils’ educational attainment.

The cross party Scrutiny Panel can recommend one of three options –

* the Cabinet should reconsider the decision,
* the Cabinet should proceed as agreed, or
* refer the matter to the full Council to carry out the role of the Panel in reviewing the decision (if this option is chosen, the Council could agree that the Cabinet should proceed as agreed or ask the cabinet to reconsider their decision. The final decision would still reside with the Cabinet).