From: Jeremy Blatchford [mailto:
Sent: 26 January 2009 16:20
To: Adrian Searle
Cc: Sally Varley; Jeremy Blatchford (Councillor)
Subject: Re: Yeo Moor Amalgamation
Importance: High

Dear Mr Searle,
Thank you for your comments Your comments will be added to the submissions to the Adjudicator.
It should be noted that just because you are unaware of a statement does not mean it did not occur either verbally or in writing. I can assure you that all of these are genuine and every argument stated below has been used by one or more persons.
Personally I spent just over a week reading every comment and undertaking research. I needed to approach the subject from a slightly different angle to prove to myself that whatever arguments were being used the decision was one the best one. I felt I had to answer all questions that did not appear to be answered elsewhere and had some validity. I was not, for example, going to be involved in justifying the rating of the Children Services Directorate, currently 10th in England of 150 and 1st in the South West Region, or of debates about Icelandic Banks!
Thank you once more for your response which will be added to those going to the Adjudicator.
Yours sincerely
Jeremy Blatchford
Executive and Lead Member
On 26/1/09 13:56, "Adrian Searle" <> wrote:


Dear Mr Blatchford,
We see from the North Somerset web site that your decision has been posted and is awaiting a signature. On behalf of the Governors of the Yeo Moor Infant School we would like to formally object to your decision to proceed with the plans to amalgamate the two schools for reasons that we have express in the passed.
We have recently been sent a copy of your “ARGUMENT SURROUNDING THE EXECUTIVE DECISION ON THE PROPOSED MERGER OF YEO MOOR INFANT AND YEO MOOR JUNIOR SCHOOLS” we have a few comments that we would like to share with you.
Section 2 Educational Standards
The consultees have rightly pointed out the standards of their school but inferred that their Ofsted is much better than the other schools in Clevedon – This is indeed untrue as to date we have never compared ourselves with other Clevedon Schools, in fact we have never compared ourselves with any school. What we have done is pointed out that BOTH Infant and Junior schools have good standards. I do believe that YMI’s added value is greater than other Clevedon Schools but we have never used this as an argument.
It is argued that merged schools do not get as good Ofsted reports. Examining the Ofsted Report of Milton Park, a school in a challenging an area of Weston super Mare the report a year after merger is as good as that of the Yeo Moor schools. Again this is not true. What we have stated is that Schools that are doing well and have Good Ofsteds prior to an amalgamation do suffer from dips in standards following the amalgamation. It is not a true comparison with Milton, prior to their amalgamation; these two schools were at different starting point, particularly the Junior school.
The argument that infant and junior schools do better than a combined school is also not supported by fact. – This again is not true – What we have said is that there is no evidence to say that either educational model is better or worse than the other. Therefore we cannot see any educational benefit in going through this change where time and effort will have to be spent on changing the model rather that instigating new teaching methods.
Section 5 - SCHOOL FINANCES.
Giving Tax payers best value.
There would also be a small adjustment in Special Educational Needs. The saving of £100,702 would be available to the Strategic Schools Forum to fund ‘prudential borrowing’ which at current levels would comfortably exceed £1m, the precise amount being dictated by ruling long term interest rates. This is an area that officers have given mixed messages to us as governors. But from what you state here in a broad brush way, there is £100K of saving. These savings can be used to pay back on a loan necessary to remodel the school. So there are in fact no savings to the Tax payer?
CAPITAL WORKS.
It is great news to our ears that you agree that more work is needed in realising the need for the correct environment for learning. At the start of our discussions with officers we provided key requirements that would enable the two schools to operate. We are encouraged that this is now being recognised.
PARENTAL AND COMMUNITY CONCERNS.
The great majority of concerns revolve around a combination of commenting too early and listening to inaccurate data but one can hardly blame those hearing the data for believing the accurate was inaccurate.
There is a concern that there has been propagation of false and misleading information together with some personal attacks upon Local Authority officers
We are interested to see and hear of this misinformation that stakeholders have been fed and believe.
We would like to thank you for your time, it is clear that you have recognized the volume of genuine concern pertaining to this issue, and whilst we disagree with your decision, we recognize your additional efforts in exploring them.
We also recognize that you have a broader remit, that you must look at ways to save money to fund other schools projects in the county, we on the other hand are solely concerned with the needs of our children and will continue our fight to ensure that they are not made to pay the cost for council commitments in other schools.
Yeo Moor Infant School Governing body.