Primary Places - School Consultations
The Council is rightly proud of education in Wirral. Teachers, governors, parents and pupils all play a part in this success. To provide the best education for children the LEA must make sure money spent on education is used in the best possible way. This means spending money on real children, not on empty places.
The Council has to review its school places to make sure that across Wirral, empty or surplus places stay below 10%. It also has to consider taking action when a school has 25% or more surplus places.
It is right that there should be some surplus places for parental choice. However, in Wirral the number of primary age children is falling. This means that some schools are getting smaller, producing a significant surplus of empty places.
Also, each school needs enough pupils to pay its costs in full. When pupil numbers become too low, the school is at risk of financial problems, and may have to cut back spending on staff and other resources. It also puts more pressure on teachers because they have to take on additional responsibilities.
The number of empty places in some local primary schools in parts of Wirral is far too high. The Council must take action to reduce this number of empty places.
There will be an on-going programme looking at every area of Wirral over the next few years. The first three phases of the Primary Places Review looked at North Birkenhead, Beechwood, Central Birkenhead, South Birkenhead, Bebington, Spital, Thornton Hough, Bromborough and Eastham, South Wallasey, North Wallasey, Leasowe, Heswall, Upton, Greasby, Pensby and Thingwall. The Council has decided to look at Moreton, Woodchurch, Noctorum, West Kirby, Hoylake and Meols in Phase 4 of the Review, which will begin in Autumn 2007.
The current consultations are to help decide what changes should be made to reduce surplus places at schools in these areas.
Feedback Form for Consultations
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (Word Format)
External Links
Current Consultations
Woodchurch
Leasowe
Primary Capital Strategy for Change
Closed Consultations
Phase 4
Moreton
Noctorum
West Kirby, Hoylake and Meols
Phase 3
Closure of Pensby Park Primary School
Amalgamation of Pensby Infant and Pensby Junior School
Closure of Poulton Primary AND establishment of a new F1 class at Park Primary School
Greasby
Heswall
North Wallasey
Upton
Phase 2
Click here for more information of Phase 2
Phase 1
Click here for more information on Phase 1
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