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Opinions split on head's call for Ilkley Grammar School expansion
DIFFERENT solutions to solve Ilkley Grammar School's overcrowding problem have been proposed by two Ilkley councillors.
Last week head teacher Gillian James pleaded with education bosses to expand the high-achieving school after it was revealed that a record number of 357 children applied for just 245 places this year.
For the first time, children in Addingham and Menston had to be told they would not get a place at the school.
Mrs James said the school was severely constrained by a cramped site, limited dining facilities and small classrooms.
The problems began in September 2000 when the number of pupils was increased from 1,000 to 1,500 due to the district's reorganisation from a three to a two-tier education system.
Despite a brand new block being built, the school was still creaking at the seams.
Before the new block was built, the school operated on two sites temporarily - Cowpasture Road and the former Middle School on Valley Drive. Teachers had to be shuttled back and forth from the site in a school mini-bus.
But Ilkley Parish and District Councillor Anne Hawkesworth sees the now demolished Middle School as a possible Ilkley Grammar Sixth Form College.
Coun Hawkesworth said: "Education have repeatedly told us there were adequate places and I have always seen Ilkley Grammar as being for children in the
valley.
"A duel campus is something that we are going to look into. Education Bradford should have warned the councillors well in time so they could be looking into it.
"The issue of the middle school site will be raised. It would not be big enough for a complete new school site but one option of a sixth form college is a possibility."
But the Middle School site has already been earmarked as a solution to the affordable housing and social care crisis .
Coun Martin Smith (Con) is a Grammar School governor and chairman of the social housing organisation Bradford Community Housing Trust (BCHT). He has been in discussions with officials over a plan to build a care home on the site.
Existing elderly care homes in Ilkley are too expensive for Bradford Social services to rent places and a new one would solve that problem.
The deal would also see some housing on the site and a land swap to release finance to refurbish obsolete BCHT flats at Moor Court, Ilkley.
Coun Smith argues that the split site solution did not work. He said: "We were having to get the minibus every two minutes. They were up and down like a yo-yo. It is not a sensible way of managing the education of our children.
"You can't have two sets of teachers. It would be very expensive,"
Coun Smith said the best solution would be to build up to five stories on a single-storey block between the sports hall and the design technology block.
4:54pm Thursday 20th March 2008
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CommentPosted by: John Thompson, Addingham on 9:42pm Tue 25 Mar 08
Dear Sir,
Further to your articles and letters concerning the dabacle of school selection in Addingham.
Notwithstanding the insensitive, not to say cruel, weilding of the bureaucratic axe the current situation has raised a number of issues.
The short-term problem facing those children traumatised by the selection process is one which, with goodwill on the part of all participants - Education Bradford, Bradford Council, Staff and Governors of IGS - could be and should be solved within weeks if not days.
The longer-term problem of excess demand requires an increase in the supply of places at IGS for the whole of the Wharfe Valley.
The fact that IGS is the 'jewel in the crown' of Education Bradford should be a cause for celebration. Logically and morally the provision of top-class secondary education in Ilkley should be expanded. The present policy is one of looking through the wrong end of the telescope.
In many respects the Wharfe Valley in educational terms is an ideal one; the social mix is more diverse than outsiders perceive, there is a sense of community so prized by many - public and politicians alike. The Wharfe Valley is no insular backwater - it welcomes innovation and change. Its people also welcome new blood. Surely this is the key to the continuing provision of an excellent and equitable education system in this area.
For Bradford must expand the supply of places to meet the demand. Children should not be traumatised, communities should not be divided.
An obvious place to start would be the former Ilkley Middle School site to be used as part of a larger campus. Another, more adventurous, option would be to explore a quid pro quo with Tesco. Tesco sponsors IGS by donating its present site for a Sixth Form Centre and Bradford Council accedes to their request for a new store on its chosen site.
Too simple?
Dear Sir,
Further to your articles and letters concerning the dabacle of school selection in Addingham.
Notwithstanding the insensitive, not to say cruel, weilding of the bureaucratic axe the current situation has raised a number of issues.
The short-term problem facing those children traumatised by the selection process is one which, with goodwill on the part of all participants - Education Bradford, Bradford Council, Staff and Governors of IGS - could be and should be solved within weeks if not days.
The longer-term problem of excess demand requires an increase in the supply of places at IGS for the whole of the Wharfe Valley.
The fact that IGS is the 'jewel in the crown' of Education Bradford should be a cause for celebration. Logically and morally the provision of top-class secondary education in Ilkley should be expanded. The present policy is one of looking through the wrong end of the telescope.
In many respects the Wharfe Valley in educational terms is an ideal one; the social mix is more diverse than outsiders perceive, there is a sense of community so prized by many - public and politicians alike. The Wharfe Valley is no insular backwater - it welcomes innovation and change. Its people also welcome new blood. Surely this is the key to the continuing provision of an excellent and equitable education system in this area.
For Bradford must expand the supply of places to meet the demand. Children should not be traumatised, communities should not be divided.
An obvious place to start would be the former Ilkley Middle School site to be used as part of a larger campus. Another, more adventurous, option would be to explore a quid pro quo with Tesco. Tesco sponsors IGS by donating its present site for a Sixth Form Centre and Bradford Council accedes to their request for a new store on its chosen site.
Too simple?
Posted by: JWP, Ben Rhydding on 4:34pm Wed 26 Mar 08
How can this man say "there is a sense of community so prized by many" and then go on to suggest that Tesco should have their way knowing full well that it would upset thousands of people in the community he suggests is so'prized'.
Absolute garbage Thompson go stand in the corner.
How can this man say "there is a sense of community so prized by many" and then go on to suggest that Tesco should have their way knowing full well that it would upset thousands of people in the community he suggests is so'prized'.
Absolute garbage Thompson go stand in the corner.
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