A SIGNIFICANT majority of parents at St Nicholas CE Middle School and Pinvin First School also voiced their opposition to the proposals.
Of the 61 respondents, who completed the survey, 18 per cent of the federation’s families, 51 (84 per cent) said they did not support the proposed change and 10 (16 per cent) said they did.
Of the 51 families opposing the proposal, seven said that, although they could see there were attractions to a two-tier system they could not support the proposed change because it lacked proper management, resources and did not take care of the needs of the whole Pershore pyramid.
The reasons given by parents for not supporting the proposal included concerns the pastoral and developmental needs of year seven children were not being taken into account.
Some parents voiced fears some children were not ready for the transition to High School.
One respondent said: “They are not mature enough at the end of Year Six. St Nicholas does a great job in helping pupils to develop independence and grow up.”
Another wrote: “The middle school is a very important educational ‘stepping stone’ between small first schools and large high schools.
“The educational benefit of spending year seven at the middle school outweighs the benefit of transferring to the high school at the end of year six.”
Concerned parents also suggested local first schools and the whole cluster will be adversely affected with a ‘mish mash’ of an education system in the Pershore pyramid.
“The two tier system works but only where Primary Schools are big enough to take large numbers of children.” a correspondent added.
A detrimental effect on children’s education, an adverse effect on staff and on finances of local schools were also raised as was the short timescale being proposed for any changes.
The ten respondents who supported the proposal said that they felt it had educational benefits and it would bring the Pershore pyramid in line with other areas, which have a two-tier system.
Andrew Best, Executive Headteacher of the federation of Pinvin’s first and middle schools said: “The governors of the federation will be issuing a formal response to the governors of Pershore High School, in which they will say that they are not in favour of the proposal.”
