Netherlee Primary School Parent Council

 

Dear Mr Wilson

Class and staffing changes at Netherlee Primary School

As I promised at last night’s Parent Council Forum meeting, I am writing to explore with you further the class and staff changes at Netherlee. From the outset, let me state that I recognise ERC has prioritised education and that the Education Department has much to be very proud of. I also appreciate that difficult decisions need to made in allocating tight resources and that the current three-year funding arrangement may not have resulted in a particularly favourable settlement for ERC. As I am sure you will understand, the priority for Netherlee parents is our children and the Parent Council is concerned to protect the high quality learning experience offered by the school (as recognised, for example, in the very positive HMIe report).

The particular matters that cause concern for the Netherlee Parent Council are:

Reclassification (from August 2008) of the existing primaries 1-3 with the attendant disruption for pupils
The creation of a composite P2/3 class (from August 2008) which, in itself, causes anxiety for some parents but also makes it likely that pupils will face further reclassification in subsequent years (assuming that particular class is not progressed as a composite P3/4 class in August 2009)
A significant increase in class sizes for children going into primaries 2-4 (the Parent Council was informed by staff that many schools in ERC have smaller class sizes even than the current levels at Netherlee)
The net loss of two classroom assistants at the school, which is especially concerning in the light of the increased class sizes
The potential stress for teachers, including the strain on the school management team, who face working to cover posts that are not being replaced in the medium term
A shortage of time and funding for staff continuing professional development, which could have serious consequences for the future success of the school and the learning experience of pupils.

Last night you set out two main reasons for the changes at Netherlee and I hope I have captured these correctly:

The fall in the number of primary school age children living in the catchment area – you indicated that there will be approximately 30 less catchment children at Netherlee in 2008-09 compared to 2007-08. The reduction in staffing at Netherlee seems, on the face of it, to be disproportionate to this reduction and I would find it very helpful if you could provide further information on why this should apparently be the case.

ii. Funding not following placing request children – if I understood you correctly, operating at or close to the maximum class sizes makes it easier for the local authority to refuse to accept children on placing request. I won’t pretend to understand the intricacies of the funding mechanisms nor the underlying political dimensions, but I feel I must highlight that it seems unfortunate for Netherlee pupils to suffer for this through increased class sizes.

Are you able to provide any further information or, indeed, any advice for Netherlee parents in relation to the concerns that I have set out?

This evening I had the pleasure of attending one of the three concerts Netherlee is hosting this week in celebration of its 75th anniversary. Introducing the final song, ‘Anything Can Happen’ from Mary Poppins, the Master of Ceremonies (a P5 pupil) told the audience to listen carefully because, at Netherlee, pupils and staff really do believe that anything can happen. In this spirit, I would ask if anything further could be done to ease the financial settlement for the school of which we are all very proud.

You will see that I am copying this letter to Sandra Mitchell and Cllr Alan Lafferty for their information and in the interests of transparency.

Thank you for the opportunity to explore these matters and I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely


Ailsa Crum
Chair
Netherlee Parent Council