Proposals to expand a Sutton Coldfield primary school have been criticised by an angry parent who slammed the consultation process as ‘unnecessary’ and believes if the school gets the go ahead it will ‘put lives at risk’.
Dad Mike Hartwell has questioned the need to double the size of Moor Hall Primary School in Rowallan Road, which he believes was a ‘done deal’ between Birmingham City Council and the school’s hierarchy before proposals were made public and long before the public consultation last October and November.
He has questioned the need for extra school places in the area and believes the school’s plans are financially motivated, which is not the criteria set down in law.
After failing to get answers during the public consultation Mr Hartwell who lives in nearby Essex Road sent a Freedom of Information request to the city council.
The responses revealed correspondence between council officers and the school which Mr Hartwell suggests show the school’s true motives were hidden from the public, that the consultation was not ‘fair and open’ as required by the Department of Education and that an expansion of Moor Hall Primary School could place nearby schools at risk if parents choose to send their children to the setting rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted.
Mr Hartwell said: “I wasn’t confident parents were getting the answers – so I carried out a Freedom of Information request. I lodged the FOI request on November 30 and I got a reply on December 21.
“I believe the reason Moor Hall is doing this is money. Moor Hall receives £3,057 per pupil. 30 times £3,000 is £90,000. A teacher costs £40,000. I’m an accountant! That leaves £50,000 to spend on something else.
“I am sympathetic with the school and why they are doing it. Their finances are stretched. But it doesn’t give them the right to do this. They must be open and fair in what they are doing.”
In a damning email from Jaswinder Didially, the head of education infrastructure at the council to Andrew Steggall, headteacher at Moor Hall on June 6, it states : “Analysis of your current waiting list indicates that creating additional 30 places at Moor Hall School will impact on at least one neighbouring school and would not be helpful to ensuring the sustainability of current expansion projects.”
The email includes a table which shows for every year group, from reception to Year Six in the Sutton Trinity Ward, there is a surplus of primary school places, by as much as 42 children in Year One and a minimum of eight surplus places in Year Two.
Mr Hartwell says this email indicates there is no need to expand.
A further email exchange suggests the school hid its true motive to expand, with Mr Steggall asking whether he should mention the need for extra finances and the council officer stating do not do so in the documents, just mention it in the meeting. The officer also advocated using the same approach that proved successful with plans to expand Maney Hill Primary.
Mr Steggall said, in an email to David Board, programme coordinator for the council onSeptember 9, 2016: “One of the key messages that we will need to consider relates to the viability of a one form entry school and I know that a headteacher of a local one form entry school gave a very stark message that business could not continue for the school without expansion.
“What would your advice be about either including this message in part of the documentation or referring to it during the consultation. It is one of the reasons why we look to expand in addition to the other reasons outlined in the document.”
The council’s Lucy Dumbleton, school organisation manager, said on September 12: “We need to be very clear in the consultation documentation that the reason for expansion at Moor Hall is that the school meets the Basic Need criteria.
“Whilst we appreciate that financial viability is a key objective of the expansion of 1FE [one form entry] schools. The reason for expansion is the need for additional places. The message around financial viability can be communicated verbally at meetings. This is the approach we took with Maney Hill.”
A further council document, Birmingham Education Sufficiency Requirements (Primary and Secondary Mainstream) 2016/17 to 2022/23 Edition 2 states nowhere in Sutton Coldfield has a high priority need for extra primary school places and in addition Sutton Trinity is ‘at risk of overprovision’.
Mr Hartwell said: “Please convince me that the consultation was genuine. Please convince me that the decision was fair and open. They didn’t put the facts and figures in the consultation document.
“There are emails saying it’s a done deal. They say the primary school places for Moor Hall are 60 before the consultation took place.
“The aim is to get all primary age children within the schools that are two miles from where they live.
“Moor Hall is on a sharp bend. Go down any day of the week and you will see cars parked everywhere.
“If they expand they will take kids from other schools and their catchment area increases, which will lead to more car journeys. The expansion will create a bottle neck at the top of Railway Road that’s going to get some people killed.”
A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said: “Birmingham City Council has a statutory duty to provide sufficient school places across the city, which is one of the youngest in Europe with a growing population.
“Schools within Sutton Trinity ward are popular and our forecast shows there is a need to increase the number of places locally to support families choosing these schools – our current school sufficiency report, published in December 2016, takes the proposed expansion of primary provision in that ward into account.
“There is a statutory process the council must follow to make such changes. Parents, pupils, staff and governors, were sent an outline proposal document in September, and full proposals for expanding Moor Hall Primary were published in November, ahead of a four-week representation period.
