I NOTE the recent controversy surrounding the merger of Tyldesley St George's and Central Church of England Primary Schools in your last two editions.

It is surprising to see some of the issues raised at this time, given the extensive consultation which took place regarding the provision of primary education in Tyldesley during 1993 and 1994.

In the two rounds of consultation, the problems of 433 surplus places in Tyldesley schools, the proximity of schools to pupils' homes and the poor condition of the existing buildings were all highlighted.

Parents of every child in school were supplied with copies of the consultative documents and invited to two public meetings to consider various options.

These options included the transfer (not closure) of Tyldesley County Primary to a new building on Ennerdale Road, the Closure of Central School and the merger of St George's and Central on either the Central site or in a new building at Astley Street.

It was clearly stated in the document that the latter option would involve the construction of a school "with places for 315 pupils" and a nursery unit.

The document indicated the current education at the two schools - a joint population of 375 pupils with places for 538 pupils, of which 108 places at Central were surplus.

It was also clearly explained that the removal of surplus places was the only means of getting the necessary government financial approval for the new building.

The Education Committee accepted the merger option using the Central site, it being the most favoured option of parents at Central and governors of the two schools.

This was reported in your paper as was the subsequent Department for Education approval of this and the Tyldesley County Primary scheme in 1995. Obviously the option of building the new school on the Central site is not without its problems, due to the limited space available, and there will inevitably be some disruption to pupils of the merged school, during the transition to the new building. However, every pupil at the schools currently will be guaranteed a place at the new school, though not necessarily in the new building, because it is only approved for 315 places. Any larger number of places would have failed to meet the government criteria for surplus place removal.

The governors of the new school, in conjunction with the Director of Education, have had the difficult task of considering how best to move forward to the new school whilst minimising the disruption.

I have no doubt that foremost in their minds has been the quality of education offered by the school and the safety and welfare of the pupils.

While solutions to all the problems may not yet have been found, I am sure with good will on all sides the difficulties will be overcome.

Children will not be taught in unsafe, overcrowded classrooms, and while some brothers and sisters maybe on separate sites, the majority will be kept with their friends.

There will be sufficient places within the Tyldesley area for Primary School pupils, though no authority could ever, how ever hard it tries, guarantee to meet every parents' preference. The places will ultimately be in more modern purpose built accommodation which is the best our children deserve.

Cllr Brian Wilson

Tyldesley

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