A lot has happened since we started this petition back in November, including joining forces with Larkrise special school and together launching our Keep Special Schools Local campaign. This has gained a lot of media attention, including coverage on ITV West Country, BBC Wiltshire radio, and front-page news on the Wiltshire Gazette & Herald and the Wiltshire Times.
But thanks to you, we gathered more than 7,500 signatures, which met the 5k threshold of Wiltshire residents and earned us the opportunity to have it debated by the full Wiltshire County Council at their meeting at County Hall yesterday.
We were allowed to speak to put our case forward and ask that the motion to include our petition as part of the current consultation be amended to show a stronger commitment from the council to engage with parents and families. We were limited in scope of what we could achieve as the petition to save our school is in relation to a decision the Cabinet will make in March, not the full council, and there seemed to be some procedural confusion by the council as to whether they were supposed to debate our petition or the motion put forward by the chair.
You can watch it here at about 14 minutes in:
https://wiltshire.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/407069
But it feels the tide is turning; many councillors spoke in support of parents’ views and urged the Cabinet to listen to us as we are the experts in what our children need. We ourselves urged the Cabinet to work with us and find a workable compromise that the majority can live with. Many ideas of how this could happen were discussed, including a school in Melksham or add-ons to mainstream schools for children with SEND.
This petition put democracy in action and is pushing the boundaries of bureaucratic procedure. Although it sometimes feels as if getting the attention of our policy makers is impossible and committing them to act an elusive endeavour, we are getting there, step by legitimate step.
HAVE YOUR SAY - NOW!
If you haven’t done so already, please make sure to submit your views on the proposed closures of special schools!! The council’s consultation ends this Friday, 1 March at 5pm.
You can do this by clicking on the link below and going to ‘Special Schools Consultation’ and filling in a quick 2-minute survey. In the comments box, you could talk about the wonderful community links that both St Nicholas and Larkrise schools have made, and how we NEED to keep these schools in our local communities to promote inclusion, reduce travel times and mitigate health risks.
http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/council-democracy-consultations
CAN YOU PLEDGE YOUR SUPPORT?
As many of you know, we are legally challenging Wiltshire Council’s process leading to the decision on 27 November and the closure notices published 9 January. Our case is now with a judge who will decide mid-March if we can proceed to a Judicial Review. Our legal team of SEND experts believe we have a strong case, but it is multifaceted and complex, and as such costs a lot of money. We are incredibly grateful to the generous people and businesses who have already helped us raise half of what we need.
But could you pledge your support too? If just 12% of those who signed this petition donated £10 each to our CrowdJustice page, we could hit our stretch target of £20k in order to cover ALL cost liabilities. Please don’t let Wiltshire Council win by default.
https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/keep-special-schools-local/
We appreciate your support – we couldn’t have come this far without you!!
With many thanks,
Keep Special Schools Local campaign team