CAM Arrives at County Hall May 18th

On Wednesday this week Andrew Parker, Claire Funnell and myself went to County Hall to present a three minute report in relation to the petition document which Andrew Parker had created on the Surrey County Council website back in March.

The meeting was for the Cabinet Member for Children and Learning Peter Martin (he is the person who will rubber stamp this proposal on July 13^th if the Governors agree to it). I read out selected parts of a pre prepared document with our concerns regarding the proposal to expand Tomlinscote across the two sites resulting in the closure of Kings International. I was timed and given three minutes to speak. We were allowed to provide the written evidence in document form to the members of the cabinet present. Peter John Wilkinson read out a pre prepared response which many of you who had signed the petition will have already received .

Petition to: abandon plans to close Kings International College and absorb it into Tomlinscote School and Sixth Form.

This petition is now closed, as its deadline has passed.

We the undersigned petition Surrey County Council to abandon plans to close Kings International College and absorb it into Tomlinscote School and Sixth Form. Submitted by Andrew Parker – Deadline to sign up by: 17 May 2011 – Signatures: 1,802

Petition update, 18 May 2011

The petition was considered by the Cabinet Member for Children and Learning on 18 May 2011 and the following response was agreed:
Surrey County Council is undertaking a detailed consultation with stakeholders concerning the future organisation of Kings International College for Business and the Arts and Tomlinscote School and Sixth Form College. It is recognised that this is a challenging consultation and we wish to hear as many views as possible prior to 20 June.
No decisions on the proposal have been taken. The proposal is subject to consideration and a decision by both the Cabinet Member and the Governing Body of Tomlinscote School and Sixth Form College. A report of the consultation will be considered by the Cabinet Member on 13 July, who will then decided whether to issue statutory notices concerning the proposal.
We acknowledge receipt of this petition, and the genuine concern that has been engendered as a result of these proposals. All responses to the consultation will be considered by the decision maker.
Peter Martin
Cabinet Member for Children and Learning
18 May 2011

Nick Smith Lead Officer on this consultation process and PJ Wilkinson were both present and I used the opportunity before the meeting to raise with Nick Smith the issue that parents from the feeder schools in year 6 who had accepted places at both Tomlinscote and Kings had not received information relating to the consultation so had been unable to engage in the consultation process despite it having been live for 10 days. We commented that parents were unaware of the meeting dates planned for Thursday 26^th May at 5.00 – 6.45pm for prospective parents of both schools. We also raised the issue that residents and the wider community had also not been effectively communicated with as Frimley Park Hospital, Siemens etc had not been consulted apart from being informed by CAM. We were assured that this was happening but will be checking to prove that this has occurred. We stressed the importance of making it a fair, open and honest consultation process.

Louise Nicholas Chair CAM