Video of School to School walk

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

Pupil Location Maps

I have removed these "dot maps" from the blog at the request of Tomlinscote school as they feel it represents a privacy concern in that it shows the location of children relative to school and thus the paths they take home from school.  Particular concern was expressed for outlying pupils.

I am pleased that the school appreciates the issues posed by children walking home great distances from school - an issue highlighted by CAM this week in relation to the proposed merger.  I am however sceptical that the suppression of publicly available data will make the children safer.

I will provide a more general analysis of the data later without the need to pinpoint individuals.  We are currently running traffic management scenarios with data we have been given.

Academy Plan Could Save School

Might be worth picking up a copy of the "Camberley News and Mail" today.

It has an article in it on the Tomlinscote Kings merger by Mike Wright.

He discusses the involvement of Oasis Academy provider, the CAM meeting at Lakeside and Barbara Lapthorns damning indictment of the "consultation" document.

He goes on to discuss the Collingwood College Headmasters criticisms of SurreyCC's population statistics and the governors statement that Collingwood will not consider a merger with Kings themselves.

Interesting reading.



Update: Now on the web

Governors - promise of contact

Letter can be found here - if you are not on parent-mail.

Interestingly enough they have only received 65 emails! I hope that does not lead them to conclude that only 65 people are interested - make sure you have your say.

Make sure you contact them - details here.

I welcome the promise of contact but I just don't understand why it is taking so long - this contact with parents will come a matter of days before the consultation process is due to end.  Major questions posed to the governors by CAM remain unanswered.  This promise really is "last chance saloon" an "eleventh hour" or  "last ditch" attempt by governors to engage with parents, for many parents their patience has been sorely tested.

What is quite worrying is that the progress of "due diligence" appears to have only just started.  How can the "due diligence" of our governing body not be available to inform the parents and SurreyCC for the "consultation process"?  If it is to be ready before the end of the "consultation process" it can only be by a day or so and will mean that the "due diligence" has been performed in a time period that suggests anything but "diligence".

Walk to School Week - CAM walk from Tomlinscote to Kings

Thank you to everyone who joined us this morning for the walk between sites. We met at Tomlinscote Way and were joined by local councillors, representative from Surrey CC, members of the CAM Group and many local parents and residents. Over 70 people took part in the event. Before we left Tomlinscote Way, Louise Nicholas, Chair of CAM addressed the group and handouts detailing our issues were distributed. A copy of that handout is attached. We also distributed details of walking distances to Frimley Park Hospital and current intake details from each school. All attached here for your information.

We walked along Chobham Road to the Frimley Park Hospital. Crossed over at the Hospital and walked onto Kings along the Frimley Road. We made many stops on the way highlighting concerns in terms of inadequate crossing points, inadequate pavements/cycle routes etc. We stopped at the Back Gate of Kings before moving to the front gate at which point we discussed further issues and dispersed. A small group of us, including Nick Smith from Surrey CC, returned using the M3 Pedestrian Bridge, which again highlighted potential issues and concerns for our children's safety if the proposal went ahead.

Throughout the walk parents carried bags and laptops to help us understand how our children would cope if this were to become an everyday journey for our children. For example on Tuesday my childs bags and laptop weighed 7.5kg. Other parents have confirmed this to be average weight carried on a normal school day.



CAM (Campaign Against Merger) is an elected body working on behalf of parents from both schools and residents to highlight that the proposal to merge Kings into Tomlinscote and to operate New Tomlinscote as a split siite school is not in the best interests of our childrens education and well being.

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Video blog – CAM Walk from Tomlinscote to Kings

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NATIONAL WALK TO SCHOOL WEEK

This week is national walk to school week and Tomlinscote is a school where a high percentage of children walk to school. Tomlinscote has been recognised for this as an example to other school communities. The proposed expansion of Tomlinscote will change this and cause a large volume of children who currently walk to school to have to catch buses or be driven by parents. Many Kings studentswill be unable to make the journey on foot. We would like the right for them to be able to walk a safe distance to school which is a main factor in us as parents choosing the school. If the expansion were to go ahead this CHOICE would be removed.

Living Streets a charity which has been the national voice for pedestrians during the past 80 years has conducted surveys which show that:

· Over 36% of children are scared to walk to school because of speeding traffic.

· One in five children and young people are concerned about the LACK of SAFE CROSSING POINTS on their journey to school.

· One in five secondary pupils are worried about being bullied on the walk to school and 39% are scared of stranger danger.

Children should be encouraged to walk to school as it improves health, wellbeing and brings back a sense of community belonging.

Walking to school is being eroded by planning decisions of which this proposal is one, in favour of vehicle traffic and placing our local schools outside walking range for many pupils. The expanded Tomlinscote would create a split site solution nearly 2 miles apart creating huge traffic and transport issues for parents and causing our right to walk to school to be placed in spiralling decline. The proposal touches briefly on the provision of buses for those children who would normally be assisted in travel as they live over 3 miles away and offers to allow this to change to 2 miles for a minimal period of time which covers only those years directly affected. This is not a long term solution, does not provide any costing or detail and is actually against what people want.

In Terms of Travel and Traffic:

· The students will need to travel longer distances to school. This will cause major traffic issues, as the increased distance will require many children who currently walk to school to be dropped off by car – extra car journeys that currently do not take place. A majority of Tomlinscote students walk to school, for which the school is highly commended and held up as an example.

· The walking route has no safe crossing points from the Tomlinscote direction.

· There will be travel issues for both children and parents. The problem will be particularly acute for families where both partners work and who rely on their children currently walking to and from school. Additionally, parents with children attending a local junior school would in future potentially face real difficulties with car journeys – particularly if they have two Tomlinscote children with one attending each site.

· Those children who do maintain a journey to school on foot will have approximately up to an extra two miles added to their journey. There could well be over time an increase in pedestrian-related traffic accidents – particularly as the journey by foot passes through a high traffic density black spot. ( please see map of walking distances to FPHospital)

· Between the two school sites there are situated many very high traffic destinations: e.g. Frimley Park Hospital; the Siemens UK HQ; the large BAE office (and a potential new BAE HQ); the Albany Park and Lyons Way business parks; the M3 junction four etc. Already, the area has major traffic issues throughout much of the day and resembles a car park at certain commuter times and hospital visit times. This problem is already going to get much worse with the addition of 1200 new homes (meaning approximately 2400 extra cars) in Deepcut, from which much of the traffic will come through Frimley, between the two school sites, and towards the nearby M3 junction four.

· Additionally, there are security issues for children walking the extra two miles to school – not least of which is the fact that many pupils will be carrying expensive and therefore attractive, laptop computers.

· No risk assessment or feasibility study of the safety aspects have been produced within the proposal.

· Given extra travel time, students will have their day increased substantially and this will affect academic outcomes.

· Quality of life will be affected for all local residents as traffic will increase around an existing major traffic hot spot. Travel times, noxious emissions, time cost to local business and traffic/pedestrian accidents are all likely to increase over-time by adding further traffic weight to an already over-stressed area.

The proposed solution to those problems identified in the proposal is to provide money, but money is not the whole solution. It needs to accurately targeted and managed.

UK Concerns:

The UK is rated 11^th for child pedestrian deaths in a ranking of 19 EU countries. A child pedestrian is three more times likely to die in the UK than Italy and twice as likely as France.

In 2009 The House of Commons Select Committee pointed to the ‘scandal of complacency’ in accepting such high rates of death an injury on our streets.

HEALTH

The Chief Medical Officers CMO Annual Report 2009 draws attention to the importance of physical activity to our health. Walking can improve overall fitness dramatically and is a cheap, low impact way to exercise. Children who walk to school tend to be more active. Walking has the advantage over the bus of requiring no preparation, no special equipment or venues and no expenditure of money.

9 out of 10 teachers surveyed by the Department of Transport considered that the walk to school makes children brighter, more alert and ready for the first lesson of the day.

Children benefit health wise by walking but if the walk is excessive it can have detrimental effects.

There are significant health issues which our children may suffer as a result of having to carry their laptop, bag and PE kit over 4-6 miles a day. A Tomlinscote or Kings student carries around 6 kilos in weight in back packs per day. Overloaded backpacks will compromise the posture of children and could lead to future injuries of the spine. 25% of children are carrying more than 20% of their body weight in bags.

The local environment can be improved as fewer cars create fewer carbon emissions and less local congestion.

Living Streets recommends that:

Government at National and Local level should continue to maintain funding for school travel planning. Staff and local councils must recognise the cross cutting benefits of prioritising action on sustainable travel to school.

To stop ever increasing average distances to school, school admissions authorities should adopt distance between home and school as the primary tie breaker criterion for oversubscribed schools. Admissions authorities must ensure that the methodology for calculating distance between home and school takes account of all suitable walking routes including footpaths.

Local Authorities should be given a statutory duty to ensure safer routes to schools are provided and that safe crossing points are in position.

Parents of both Tomlinscote and Kings International school and local residents through CAM would like to ensure that our concerns are taken seriously.

A feasibility study should already have taken place and discussing with SHB Council the comment made in the consultation document does not allay our concerns. What have SCC put into place to deal with the traffic in detail, particularly in relation to additional items like traffic lights, zebra crossing etc. We would like to see the traffic survey that SCC have undertaken and see the risk assessments that have been drawn up to ensure that our children can go to school safely.

WE DO NOT WANT OUR CHILDREN TO HAVE TO GO TO SCHOOL ON A BUS PAID OR UNPAID.

WE DO NOT WANT A SPLIT SITE SCHOOL - SPLIT BY MAJOR TRAFFIC PROBLEMS.

WE DO NOT NEED TO CATCH A BUS OUR CHILDREN CAN, AND DO, WALK TO SCHOOL.

WE WANT A LOCAL SCHOOL SERVING ITS LOCAL COMMUNITY AND WHERE CHILDREN CAN SAFELY WALK TO SCHOOL.

WE WANT CHOICE.

Tomlinscote currently held up as a walk to school Role Model by SurreyCC

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This rather hopeful document from SurreyCC has children walking 3 miles in 45 minutes! So I think you should take the actual quoted times with a pinch of salt.  I'd multiply the figures by 1.3 or 1.5 to get closer to the truth - and even that may be better than would actually be achieved!  My kids currently take about 15 mins to do the 5 min walk!  Update: Actually it is merely a rough guide as it also is distances measured from Frimley Park Hospital NOT Kings international.

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1p8rXglqA_6Cm10WnzyKKXS87QfNTzwRLS-mxLC8pvanYPf-FIXOh5-q6-Ti1&hl=en_US

Consultation = No Buses - Travel may be worst for Kings KS4's

I blogged earlier that the buses promise would be a sham - the consultation document proves me right.

I've been looking at the offer by SurreyCC to provide buses for people living further away from school than 2 miles rather than the more usual 3 mile limit.  If you live between Kings and the outer ring of blue dots you will not get travel - you are on your own.

Out of Tomlinscotes current "Admission Priority Area" the change really only affects Heatherside (and if you are from Heatherside don't stop reading here get to the bottom for the exemptions).  For a large part of the APA the difference between 2 and 3 miles is made up of the golf course and woods (where nobody lives).

Journeys of 2 miles to Kings          Journeys of 3 miles to Kings

Given that buses to Grove from Deepcut will be axed (see here) I'm not sure the promise of buses is worth much.

Lets read the text carefully (even though it is fairly blatant).

Note what the bus travel includes.

ONLY children currently in years 6 and 7 while attending Kings site.
ONLY Tomlinscote children.
ONLY above 2 miles (only Heatherside)

My guess is that this generous promise only affects about 60 children and only lasts 2 years.


Some of the worst affected families will be KS4 children from Kings who will now find themselves spending 40 minutes per day walking to the Tomlinscote site and 40 minutes home.  No buses on offer for them - wouldn't 1 hour 20 mins per day be better spent studying.

The map to the left shows journeys that would NOT qualify for free travel to Tomlinscote on the 3 mile rule that would be applied to KS4 students.


It pretty much says that NOBODY in catchment area will get bus travel.








This is what a 2 mile radius looks like on the map - few people qualify!  Even fewer when you realise its only current year 6 and 7's who will be offered.

Tomlinscote Governors have only received ±30 responses !

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

IF YOU ONLY WRITE ONE EMAIL OR LETTER ( more would be great )

PLEASE SEND IT TO THE GOVERNING BODY at Tomlinscote as they have the ability to prevent this proposal going ahead.
The email contact is:
governors.consultation@tomlinscote.surrey.sch.uk

or write to The Chair of Governors Colonel Steel and the whole Governing Body of Tomlinscote School at:

Tomlinscote School and Sixth Form College
Tomlinscote Way
Camberley,
Surrey GU168PY

Please email your concerns in relation to the consulation proposal and any other concerns that you might have in relation to the proposal. You need to let the Governing Body know what your feelings are. Could we ask that if you sent emails and letters to the school BEFORE the governors consultation email address was set up on April 18th then please resend them.
We would welcome a copy of the emails that are sent in so we can keep a record of individuals concerns so please forward these to the tomlinscote.kings.nomerger@gmail.com (we will also have an idea of the volume of letters sent).
We would urge all concerned parents from both Kings and Tomlinscote and other feeder schools and local residents to make your concerns known to the governing body of Tomlinscote.
Please also email and write to your county councillors Denis Fuller, Chris Pitt and David Ivieson. These contacts are listed on our site under CONTACTS and LOBBY COUNCILLORS

Raise your concerns by emailing the education department at County.

Write to our MP Michael Gove

Please make people aware of the blogsite and encourage people to complete the petition forms online.

Please make your views known Public Pressure will make a difference.

CONSULTATION DOCUMENTS

Please do not fill in the consultation documents until you have been fully informed by attending the SCC meetings and the meetings to be held by the Governing Body of Tomlinscote. We will be updating our blogsite with information in relation to the consultation document regularly.
PLEASE WAIT AND BE FULLY INFORMED BEFORE RESPONDING TO THE CONSULTATION DOCUMENT - We at CAM will help to inform you.


WHAT WE ARE DOING?
As a group we are determined to work together Kings parents and Tomlinscote parents and community residents to remain separate.The alternatives we see at the moment that do not engage in expansion, merger, absorption, subsuming are:

1.To keeps Kings and Tomlinscote in the current soft federation and to build on the strengths that this had provided but with SCC fully supporting and effectively marketing and advertising Kings for its positive elements.

2.To keep Tomlinscote as a separate entity

3.To keep Kings as a separate entity

4.To take Kings out of SCC control and have an academy provider like Oasis who spoke last night about what they could offer to a school like Kings to make it viable sustainable secondary school offering educational excellence.

We within CAM will not walk away from Kings if the Tomlinscote Governors do not agree to go ahead with the proposal.
We have clearly stated from the start that we will all work together to ensure that Kings becomes the school the parents of Kings International require sustainable and viable. We as CAM will support Kings whatever the outcome of the decision.
We are all in this together with the aim of preventing the expansion/ merger occuring which will result in the children and parents of Surrey Heath residents being provided with educational choice.

Thank you for your support

Louise Nicholas
Chair CAM

Video of Lakeside Event

C.A.M. Public meeting held on 10th May at Lakeside Country Club Frimley Green from Bob Garrett on Vimeo.

Hear your voice - See your tee-shirt

You can now get your own CAM tee-shirt.

Sizes Size Medium £10.00 Size Large £10.00 Size X Large £10.00 Size XX Large £10.00 Size XXX Large £10.00

They are ideal for wearing at the following events:

• The CAM "Walk to school" at 10am Thursday 19th May
• The Surrey County Council Education Select committee at 10am Friday 20th May
• Each weekend as part of the petition teams
• Any warm evening while delivering leaflets
• When you pick up you children from school
• send us your ideas too!

Walk to School Week - Tomlinscote to Kings walk.

Representatives from CAM have invited local councillors, representatives from Surrey CC and local businesses to join them on a walk between the two sites of the Tomlinscote and Kings. The walk has been planned for Thursday 19th May at 10am (During National Walk to School Week). The purpose of the walk is to see for ourselves the issues our children may have to face on a day to day basis if this proposal were accepted.

Currently Tomlinscote is a school where the majority of children do walk to school each day. If the proposal were accepted it will be virtually impossible for many of our children to walk to school, due to distance, road safety and logistics.

We would like to invite you to join us on this walk.

We will be leaving from Tomlinscote Way, heading along Chobham Road towards Frimley Park Hospital. We will cross the A325 and head along Frimley Road towards Kings International College.

The walk has been specifically timed so that Children will not be involved as we consider their education to be of the upmost importance. It is not our intention to affect traffic flow or cause any disruption to general public daily routines.

So far we have confirmations of attendance from many local councillors and respresentatives from SurreyCC.

Participants in the walk are responsible for their own safety. The organisers do not take responsibility for traffic control and can not be held responsible for the actions of people taking part in this event. Participants will be reminded that this is not a protest event, but the opportunity to highlight potential issues that may occur as a result if the proposal were accepted.

http://www.964eagle.co.uk/news/review.php?article=426683

With Regards,
CAM - Campaign Against Merger
Working together to remain separate

Relevant other posts:-
http://tomlinscote-kings.blogspot.com/2011/04/school-bus-promises-you-can-bet-these.html
http://tomlinscote-kings.blogspot.com/2011/04/school-bus-cuts-to-grove.html
Consultation = No Buses - Travel may be worst for Kings KS4's

Statement by CAM to Surrey County Council Education Select Committee

CAM is reading the following statement at the next meeting of the Surrey County Council Education Learning and Development Select Committee at 10am on 20th May 2011, at County Hall in Kingston upon Thames.

CAM members and supporters are very welcome to join us to lend visual support at the start of meeting when the statement is read.

Please contact us if you would like to buy an orange CAM tee-shirt to make your presence known!

This is a statement prepared by CAM - Campaign Against Merger, an action group of parents from school communities and local residents.

Surrey Heath is currently served by four secondary schools.

Two large schools, Collingwood and Tomlinscote, and two smaller schools, Kings International and Gordons.

Kings’ recent history has proved challenging, resulting in it being placed in special measures by Ofsted. This has resulted in current student admissions falling below that required by SCC for a school to be considered viable. A proposal has been advanced by SCC to subsume Kings into Tomlinscote to create a “super school” split into two parts, a lower school based on the Kings site and an upper school on the Tomlinscote site almost two miles away with a motorway and major hospital on the route between them.

CAM have real concerns over the proposal:
The Hay Report published in 2006 does not indicate a favourable outcome in the majority of school merger scenarios, and there is a real risk that the new mega school will have lower attainment levels and face serious operational challenges.
School admission projections produced by SCC do not correlate with current primary school numbers. They also lack current recruitment from Hampshire and Berkshire, and inaccurately reflect increasing birth rates and demand from new housing developments.
There are significant safety risks for children and increased traffic on congested roads between the two sites.



SCC has invested significant time and effort into Kings and over the last 18 months and there has been an improvement in academic outcomes for students, so much so that the college is likely to be judged as “meeting national levels of attainment” this term.

This improvement CAN continue and the college WILL be more attractive to local parents, negating the need for a proposal that will cause massive disruption.


Our requests to the Select committee are:
Do not risk destroying a successful Tomlinscote school by combining it with another school which embodies a different ethos.

Do not walk away from the investments already made in Kings which are now starting to yield results. Instead, support the improvements and build upon them.

Do not close Kings – thus removing the chance for Surrey Heath to maintain four centres of excellence. One size does not fit all.



CAM also believe the proposal document itself has several major flaws.

1. It does not include proper in depth consideration of viable alternatives for example an Academy/ Free school solution for Kings.

2. It assumes that parents will not choose Kings when SCC itself has not been prepared to promote Kings as an improving school and real alternative.

3. It disregards the recent success of the soft federation with Tomlinscote, which if built on would enable Kings to become a popular and successful school.

4. The questions at the end of each subsection are asked in a fashion designed to lead the the respondent to ultimately agree with the proposal.

5. It contains insufficient information to allow a reader to respond in a properly informed way.

6. For it to be a document upon which valid decisions can be made, it should contain several viable options, each of which is supported with a feasibility study, risk analysis, business case and implementation road map.


The consultation document contains none of this information in any depth and as such its validity is questionable.

In the interests of democratic and educational responsibility we ask you to terminate the current consultation process.

Rumours of Death Greatly Exaggerated

I've had a number of mails from concerned readers that this site was to "be taken down for legal reasons" I'm not sure where the rumour started but in this climate of lack of information and "fear uncertainty and doubt" let me do my best to add a few facts.

1) There has been some instability in the site in the last few days. Blogger (the google software that powers this blog) has had some problems that have affected all google blogsites world-wide if you are interested in the details have a google for "blogger outage" or read this.

http://buzz.blogger.com/2011/05/blogger-is-back.html

2) Google will only shut down a site if they are presented with a court order.

"One of the hallmarks of Blogger is the importance of freedom of speech. Blogger is a provider of content creation tools, not a mediator of that content. We allow our users to create blogs, but we don't make any claims about the content of these pages, nor do we censor them. However, Blogger has standards and policies in place to protect our users and the Blogger network, as well as to ensure that Blogger is complying with all national, state, international, and local laws.

We do not remove allegedly defamatory content from www.google.com or any other U.S. dot com domains."

One of the readership of this site has a keen interest in legal matters and journalism and has so far not flagged any serious concerns to me.  While it may have a focus, a particular aim is to keep people who otherwise would "not be informed"...... "informed".  With the lack of information provision generally on this subject and the difficulty of obtaining specific information I see this site as definitely "in the public interest".

Should any individual have cause for concern over anything I have posted they are welcome to contact me and I will see what I can do.  All reasonable requests will be complied with.  I will not however remove content or stop posting on the basis of anonymous rumours, comments or threats.

Lastly, should the worst happen and the site maintainer is taken to court and google are presented with a court order to shut the site down people can stay informed via http://KeepKings.org which will be capable of keeping you up to date and well informed... why not take a wander over there anyway and place it in your "bookmarks"!

bregds

Ian Sorby