Giles Brook Primary School

Last Updated: Tuesday, 14/11/06 9:50 PM

History News Items

SCHOOL CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

Last updated 16:30 25/10/2006

The following is a press release that the council has issued with regard to setting up temporary buildings on the Giles Brook site. It is worth noting that the brief for the site has been agreed with Phil Scull and the governors and the council are now moving ahead at full speed to secure an operational temporary school asap.

COUNCIL TO HIRE TEMPORARY CLASSROOMS TO KEEP GILES BROOK PUPILS TOGETHER

CONCERNED parents of pupils at Giles Brook school have been promised temporary buildings after senior Cabinet Members met this week. (23rd )

Cllr Euan Henderson, Cabinet member with responsibility for new schools, made the pledge on Monday (23rd), following consultation with Cabinet colleagues.

The move will allow testing and repair work at the school, which has been closed since October 13 th, after problems with a ‘bowing’ ceiling emerged in the school’s Foundation Stage classroom.

Testing and remedial work – including the ongoing replacement of defective joists in this classroom – is continuing, and the council is also working closely with the Timber Research and Development Agency (TRADA) to advise on the correct course of action.

From next Monday (30th) the pupils will be transported to other schools around the city while the work continues. The youngest group of pupils will remain at the school, in the main hall, which is unaffected.

However councillors have agreed that putting the children in other schools - and unfamiliar surroundings – can only be a temporary solution.

The aim is to have the temporary classrooms on site within six weeks, complete with associated water, electricity, drainage etc.

As well as dealing with the current situation – believed to be caused by potentially faulty joists – the plan is also to carry out other outstanding work – such as much-needed improvements to the ventilation system – whilst the school is closed.

Cllr Euan Henderson, Cabinet Member responsible for new school buildings, said:

“We discussed the matter at length and decided this is the best course of action. Parents have been very vociferous in voicing their concerns over where their children are being taught, and we share their concerns. Obviously there will be financial implications, running into hundreds of thousands of pounds, but we will seek to recover money where possible."

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Last updated 17:30 19/10/2006

The following letter will be sent out to parents tomorrow. The council are working on a more detailed letter which sets out the arrangements post half term which will also be dispatched tomorrow.

Dear Parents

I wanted parents to know about school arrangements as soon as we had been able to identify schools to host our year groups and that has been no easy task with such a limited time frame and the number of schools available able to offer 2 classroom spaces. I only managed to secure the last host school late yesterday afternoon. The Council will be writing to every parent with far more detail as to arrangements tomorrow (Friday).

We have arranged playtimes and lunchtimes at the host schools so that our children either have a completely separate play area or different play and lunchtimes to the resident pupils to avoid possible social problems and keep our individual ethos and identity. Our children (other than Foundation who are staying here and Year 1 who will be based at Howe Park), will have different start and finish times to our hosts so we will be completely separate from their day to day operations.

Venues are as follows:

Foundation – Giles Brook - school hall

Year 1 Howe Park sited this side of Emerson Valley – this school is close enough to allow parents to get children there without the need for coaches, different play and lunch times.

Year 2 Christ the Sower Primary, Singleton Drive , Grange Farm, - very new classrooms and separate play area.

Year 3 Broughton Fields Primary, Milton Road , Broughton, very new school, brand new classrooms, separate play area.

Year 4 Middleton Primary – sited on Middleton, very new school, brand new classrooms, separate play area.

Year 5 St Bernadette’s Primary, Tewskbury Lane , Monkston Park – very new school, brand new classrooms, different play and lunchtimes.

Year 6 Chestnuts, Buckingham Road , Bletchley – we have been given two spacious upstairs classrooms with toilets just outside them, with no other classrooms on the floor. We will have a separate play area.

Once we have settled we hope to be able to invite you to come and see the rooms early next half term if you would like – probably from around 4.45 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. as we will have to fit in with our hosts. We will write with a day and time during the first week back after half term. Our staff have been fantastic and cleared and packed their rooms, adjusted planning, assembled resources, got books together and as I write are in the process of being removed with everything to their host schools to set up their classrooms. All children’s P.E. bags etc left in school are being taken over as well as their trays.

What a nightmare this has been for everyone in our school community and it has been a particularly stressful situation for working parents. I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone that has sent in messages of support; it is great to know that so many people appreciate that the situation has arisen through no fault of ours. Knowing how strongly our parents are behind us has been one of the only things that has kept us all going this week. All of us are now working flat out to try and make the very best of the situation.

The Governors are being unrelenting in their pursuit of a totally acceptable long term resolution of the problems that we have experienced with our building over these first three years. We cannot ever have a situation like this arise again and the Governors are determined that every fault within the school should be fully rectified and signed off by an independent, properly qualified person before we re-occupy the building.

Very best regards

Philip Scull

Headteacher

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Last updated: 14:00 17/10/2006

For the latest update please click here to read this letter from the Milton Keynes Council, which was handed out at the meeting held on Monday 16th October 2006.

More information will follow as and when available.

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Last updated: 13.30 15/10/2006