September 2004

Press Releases

     WESTMINSTER FILE

 7th September 2004

BOB WALTER MP PROMISES  PARENTS HE WILL OPPOSE MILTON ABBAS SCHOOL CLOSURE

Robert Walter MP ( North Dorset ) last night (Monday 6^th September) met with parents, parish councillors and concerned residents on the subject of the closure of Milton Abbas School , as part of the reorganisation of the Dunbury School Federation. He was joined at the meeting in the Reading Room in Milton Abbas by local Dorset County Councillor, Hilary Cox, and local District councillor Della Jones.

During the discussions about the structure of primary schools in the reorganised Blandford catchment area, the governors of the Dunbury federation of schools decided that for both financial and educational reasons they would have to close one of their four village school bases. The decision was taken to close the base at Milton Abbas from next September, 2005.

Bob Walter said Milton Abbas had become the victim of Government underfunding of Dorset schools. He promised to join the campaign against closure of any of the bases. This would mean that a new school, which is already funded, would be built at Milton Abbas.

Bob Walter will make the case to the Schools Organisation Committee that any closure would be contrary to Government policy which has a presumption against closure of small village schools. He will point out the irony that if the schools were treated as four independent schools their funding formula would not be in crisis.

At the meeting, Bob Walter said:

“The Dunbury Federation is an exemplar of the very best in rural primary education. The four base solution was pioneering and educationally has been a great success. The governors and Dorset County Council are the victims of successive underfunding by the Government.

“It is nonsense to be closing down part of the very best pioneering rural school federation in the country. I shall make the case to the Schools Organisation Committee that such a closure is contrary to Government policy. I shall also point out that other rural school federations are funded as individual schools rather than as just one school. That in itself would solve the funding problem.”