Ashford school not to close

In November 2008 SCC expressed interest in joining the investment programme 'Building Schools for the Future,' and will be in the process of preparing a submission to the Government in December this year if the decision was approved at an SCC meeting held on Wednesday October 14.

In the report before the local committee, Mr Wilkinson outlined predicted surplus places at the six Spelthorne secondary schools, which will increase from 296 spaces to 423 between 2011 and 2012.

He stated that the five other schools, which are Matthew Arnold, in Staines, Thamesmead, in Shepperton, and St Pauls, Sunbury Manor, and Bishop Wand, in Sunbury currently fill to their sizes, while Thomas Kynvett do not.

The report stated that the rise in surplus places created a dilemma of whether to cut the schools from six to five, but, although the predicted surplus is still high in 2016 at 580, it decreases to 421 in 2018, thus giving room for hope.

But, because of the increase in good GSCE results, a pleasing Ofsted report this year, and the securing of a specialist status for maths, computing, and art, at Thomas Kynvett, the report stated the college should remain open.

The report said: "There are also wider issues the cabinet should consider. Thomas Kynvett is located in Ashford, and is the closest secondary school to Stanwell, the most disadvantaged area in the borough."

It said that Stanwell and Ashford north are in need of a catchment area school because there are 16/1000 children subject to child protection in Stanwell north, young people are out of work, the teenage conception rate is high, and between 11-18% of people are on benefits.

In the meeting leader of Spelthorne Council, John Packman said: "Thomas Kynvett has experienced a tremendous turnaround recently and their exam results last year were possibly the best in Spelthorne. Quite a lot of pupils come from the area, so it would be damaging for a number of reasons if the college closed, such as the residential area of Stanwell and Ashford."

The next step, if the decision was approved at the SCC cabinet meeting on Wednesday October 14, will be for SCC to begin consulting on their proposal to the government in December.