* WOKINGHAM Borough councillors need to understand that proposals to change the catchment or “Designated Area” for Maiden Erlegh School to include all of Lower Earley will not meet their constituents’ demands.
The consultation document itself states “the Designated Area (DA) would not be able to fulfil the implied promise that there are sufficient places at Maiden Erlegh if all local pupils apply”. So it goes on to suggest a shared DA with Bulmershe School.
This means those pupils in Lower Earley who live furthest away from Maiden Erlegh will get a place at the under subscribed Bulmershe School.
Those Lower Earley parents currently in the Designated Area for the Holt and the Forest Schools may well prefer the status quo.
Removing children who live closer to the school, who happen to live in Reading Borough, simply means moving the problem from one set of local families to another.
We are in this situation due to the incompetence of both Reading and Wokingham councils which has only been exacerbated by the recent closure of Ryeish Green School. Given the push from the Coalition Government for local authorities to work across political boundaries on such matters, we parents must demand that they go back to the drawing board and work together to develop some long term and sustainable solutions. None of us want to be involved in meetings like Wednesday’s a couple of years down the line. After all, it’s the education of all our children that is at stake.
R Helsby
Reading
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