PARENTS and teachers lining up with the 'No Academy In Midhurst or Easebourne' (NAME) campaign say consultations have been rushed through with inadequate information about proposals for a new secondary school. The NAME campaign is organising further meetings in both Midhurst and Petworth so that as many people as possible can find out about the proposed changes. Campaign spokesmen Janet and John Newman say: "NAME regards it as totally unacceptable. Important decisions that will affect generations and could have a negative effect on the communities involved are being rushed through pell-mell, with inadequate information, and via a series of 'consultations' so overlapping that one could legitimately wonder if the process is deliberately intended to confuse. "We now have two booklets that do not cover anywhere near what we really need to know to make truly informed responses. "A new building apart, what information are we given about how ULT (United Learning Trust) will provide a better education than a good local authority can? "The booklet simply states aspirations with which we would all agree and which are not new. "There is no detail, for instance, about how the curriculum will change – which surely we should know if we are to be able to agree that things might be better. What information is given about a considered analysis of the effect of change on communities? "How can a headlong rush be justified when the decisions involved are so important? Have even the county councillors been fully informed of all the issues involved?" They say one of the few details came in the second booklet, which was available to the public only the day after the opportunity to discuss change with local councillors at Lodsworth, when it emerged the academy will be in partnership with schools from the independent sector as well as the public sector. Winchester College has been mooted as a partner, but NAME argue the expertise of a selective private boys' school is not obviously well matched, let alone central, to the very different skills required in a mixed comprehensive. They are also demanding that Easebourne, Petworth and Midhurst communities be consulted before a decision is made on where the new academy will be sited. As well as the West Sussex County Council consultation, which closes on April 8, there is a public consultation being run by the independent DJB Consultancy, which closes on May 10. This is being headed by former governor of the BBC Dame Jocelyn Barrow and is aimed at informing the WSCC decision. A final decision on the academy will be made in June and if it goes ahead, the new academy will be phased in from September 2008. l Twenty families, teachers and governors from Northchapel Primary School held a silent protest with banners outside Chichester District Council offices on Tuesday afternoon before a debate on the Rother Valley Schools proposals. The protest was filmed by BBC and featured on the South Today evening news. The school is calling for its amalgamation with Petworth Primary School to be ditched and for the age range to be extended to 11 at its present site. Deputy head Claire Murphy, chair of governors Sue Tatner and parent Paula Whittington tabled three questions during public question time, asking what benefits there were to children from amalgamating with an established year three in another school, from spending more than 10 hours a week on a bus and whether the impact on the wider community in Lurgashall and Ebernoe had been considered. The district's policy development committee agreed to support a motion calling for the county to re-examine the viability of Northchapel as an all- through primary school. At present Northchapel is set to become infant-only site. They also called for the closure of Rogate school to be looked at again. District councillors also pressed for 'appropriate supervision' on school buses to ensure the safe transport of young children between home and school – and for assurances that all school staff and headteachers would be fairly treated in any redeployment following restructuring. County councillor for Northchapel Chris Duncton, is supporting the school's bid. The ex-Northchapel pupil said he was "particularily impressed" by an evening meeting at Northchapel that was attended parents, governors and pupils. He said: "They had some impressive arguments for the future of the school which left me in no doubt that I should be supporting their point of view, that it should become a full primary school from age four to 11 as other schools in the Rother Valley are doing. "I shall be taking all the arguments to the cabinet member at the county council."
