Council 'Anxiously' Awaits School Funding News

Chiswick Community's redevelopment remains under threat

Hounslow Council are 'anxiously' awaiting news about funding for Chiswick Community School after its Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects came under threat from spending cuts.

The Department for Education's announcement of a comprehensive spending review prompted parents of pupils to launch an online petition urging the Secretary of State for Education to maintain the promised funds for refurbishing and rebuilding the Chiswick secondary school.

Sachin Gupta, Hounslow’s executive member for education, told ChiswickW4.com, “Like all other Local Authorities within England, we are anxiously waiting for news of the Building Schools for the Future scheme.

"We are supportive as much as we can be but for the time being we continue to await any firm decisions from ministers.”

The parents' petition states: 'Whilst giving due respect to the current economic climate, we, the undersigned urge the Secretary of State for Education, to maintain the promised funds for refurbishing and rebuilding Chiswick Community School under the Building Schools for the Future programme.

The petition asks the Government to take the following reasons into account:

• The Local Authority has identified Chiswick as its secondary school in most need of refurbishment.
• Our children deserve buildings and facilities that are fit for purpose so they are prepared for the future and can fully benefit from the excellent education provided by the dedicated staff at Chiswick School.
• Chiswick Community School is the only secondary school in Chiswick and serves at least 6 local primary schools.
• Chiswick serves the community with groups using the buildings outside school hours for sports, adult learning and it hosts a long-standing music school in addition to a Polish and an Estonian school.
• The school has already invested significant resources increasing senior staff capacity and undertaking extensive training in developing the vision for a new school - Strategy for Change.
• 100s of hours have already been invested by staff and governors consulting with stakeholders and securing Trust Status.

Data-protection / privacy:

• This petition form should be shared to others only via the invitation link http://bit.ly/aZhcsd
• The form and form data is not publicly available via google etc
• The data from this petition will be used for the purposes stated above only.
• You may remove your data from this petition at any time by contacting lol.oconnor@gmail.com
  

June 30, 2010