Author: simon
Next Wednesday: Drive to Survive Schools Protest
Saturday, 2nd February, 2008 at 12:31 pm, Isle of Wight
We were contacted last week by a collection of parents - organising under the banner Drive To Survive - who were concerned at the practicalities of living with the proposed changes to the school system on the Island, in particular the impact of having to get children to new schools.
Their idea, to give parents - and importantly those who do not have children at school on the Island - a view of how the changes will effect Islanders lives, with the inevitable rise in cars on the Island roads, if half of the primary schools are closed, and people have to get their little ones to the new, further-away schools.
To give a taste of how it would lengthen drive times, their idea is for parents to act as if the proposed changes have occurred, driving their cars to what would be the new schools.
Initially it might sound a little complex, but with a bit of patience you’ll see that is isn’t really.
It will run for three days starting this coming Wednesday, 6th Feb and breaks down to four simple stages.
- Drop your kiddie winkles off at school as you would normally.
- Get in your car and drive to the school that you would have to, if option 1 were to come into place.
- Park your car near that school and walk to that school’s gates, as you would if your child were going to that school.
- Get back in your car and drive home, spending the rest of the day feeling good about yourself for taking part in this mass experiment.
Simple really isn’t it?
The next day (Thursday), repeat the same process, but the school that you drive to is the one you would have to go to if Option 2 came into force. The last day - Friday - repeat the same, but with the Option 3 school.
Too complex?
OK, we know that Alex Dyke and The Doc weren’t able to grasp the concept, finding it “too complex,” and were amazed at The Doc didn’t think it was a good idea, exclaiming that, “it’s important not to disrupt other people,” appearing to not grasp that if this action does disrupt people, it’s giving an indication of how life will be _every_ work day the schools are open.
In the words of organiser, Katie, “This will demonstrate to the council that our roads cannot cope with so many cars on the road, there isn’t enough space to park and will also show those who think that these changes will not affect them, that they will (not able to get to work on time, etc).”
Credit to The Doc for thinking that those taking part in it should put a poster in the window of the car, so those being delayed on the road understood why and how they were being delayed. The organisers have now arranged this.
Will it work?
The effectiveness of this will purely be down to how many people take part. We all know that we’ve got busy lives, but this should add only about 30 mins to the normal school routine, which is a pretty small amount of time, considering what’s at stake, isn’t it?
We wanted to get this piece out earlier, but were waiting on us having time to edit together an audio interview with had with Katie, one of the organisers. We think it’s more important to get this out today, and will bring you the interview when we find the time.
Image: Freefoto
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February 2nd, 2008 at 7:29 pm
How about doing the same for the home run the following week - to see the impact of the traffic jams then (or maybe that’s asking a bit much). And don’t forget, this exercise is being done before the tourist season takes off so it will be even busier in the summer.
Hope there will be lots of people taking photos and sending them to the national press especially the Daily Telegraph who are organising a big campaign to keep rural schools open - as well as the Blog.
February 2nd, 2008 at 9:02 pm
And add to this the impact of less subsidies for buses and perhaps for concessionary bus passes and we will have BIG problems on the roads and around the (always full) car parks.
February 2nd, 2008 at 9:32 pm
We have had 5xroad deaths this year already, stupidity like this will not improve the situation, why not think positive (for once) and look at public transport or car sharing, or is it purely selfishness
February 3rd, 2008 at 9:48 am
It will sure help with global warming, or don’t to-days parents worry about thir kiddie winkels future, just a thought.
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:08 am
“stupidity like this will not improve the situation” - I’m not clear.
Are you saying that forcing people to have to change their school is stupidity … or giving people a preview of what life will be like if the proposed school changes are implemented is the stupid thing?
February 3rd, 2008 at 11:29 am
Sorry Farmer’s Boy but Simon is right. You have to think long term. The Island has to get the education changes right because we are going to be stuck with the outcome for the next forty years or more (the change from the two-tier to the three-tier system dates back to 1970, thirty eight long years ago). If it’s carbon emissions and burning of fossil fuels you are really worried about then closing the schools is without a shadow of a doubt going to increase this over the next few decades. That’s what this exercise is all about. The parents involved really do care about their children, their grandchildren and future generations and the villages and communities they have lived in many of them for generations. Sorry if you are going to be inconvenienced next week.
February 3rd, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Oldie, I won’t be inconvenienced by any of it, also where do you get your figures from, I was educated in the three tier system and I left school in 1961.
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:07 pm
I remember Farmer’s Boy because I was there - teaching in the old Pell Lane Secondary Modern that amalgamated with Bishop Lovett to become Ryde High School in September 1970. Some older pupils were taught on the Bishop Lovett site till December 1970 whilst the building work went on and we went over there to teach them. Mr Flux was appointed the Head at Ryde.
Let me explain: The three-tier system was 5-9, 9-13 and 13-18 as opposed to 5-11 and 11-18 hitherto. Of course some primaries were split into infants and junior on different sites and the secondary moderns only went up to CSE Level (and some good ones even did GCE O Level as well as CSE. Some pupils who got GCE at secondary modern would go on to the Sixth Form at Sandown or Carisbrooke Grammars.
Nearer home in Ventnor St Margaret’s Infant School where Miss Pope (who lived in Leeson Road) was Head and Jean Holbrook - a brilliant teacher (who still lives in Niton) was the deputy, was expanded to become an Initial School (5-9 years). Also in September 1970 Ventnor Secondary Modern became a middle school(under Mr Patten). Sandown Grammar became a comprehensive for Y9 upwards as did Carisbrooke Grammar. Cowes Secondary Modern became a comprehensive. Later they needed another High School and so a site in Medina was found and developed.
I can tell you that the changeover did cause quite a bit of disruption at secondary level for some of the cohorts going through at the time but there were no league tables in those days so only those of us who went through it were aware of it.
Maybe you went to three different schools in total culminating in 1961, Farmer’s Boy but that is something different again. At that time, you will remember there was just GCE O and A Level. Less than 10% of the country took O Level; the secondary modern children could leave at 14. In 1966 the school leaving age went up to 15. Some good secondary moderns taught O Level to those who stayed on and wanted to learn (so there were no discipline problems in the GCE classes - those were the days! Those were also the days when the whole school could fit in the assembly hall at one go and the head and all the staff knew every pupil. I’m sure there are lots of Oldies around still who remeber all this - old teachers like old soldiers never die, we merely fade away.
February 3rd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
My three tiers were 5-7, 7-11 (11plus) 11-finish
February 5th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
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