Trinity CE Primary School has 153 children on roll currently,
with capacity for 210. The school is popular across the locality,
has a recent ‘good’ Ofsted rating and was in the top 4%
in the country for our phonics results. The school relies upon
children from the villages within our cluster choosing to attend
our school to maintain pupil numbers and survive financially. At
present, 26 children from Islip and Sudborough have a school bus
pass that allows them to use free school travel to attend here.
This is the equivalent of one whole class in our small rural
school, of which the impact would be devastating.
Under the new policy arrangements, children from these villages who
join our school would not be entitled to free home to transport as
other primary schools are closer. It is extremely likely that due
to the new policy, our intake from these villages will drop and
this will, in turn, have a detrimental effect on the school’s
number on roll and its finances.
The lack of funded school transport does also raise a
significant problem with further traffic and congestion in
Aldwincle as families from Islip and Sudborough may choose to drive
their children to school, and those who cannot afford the fees or
do not have access to their own transport would not be able to
exercise parental choice. We have a duty of care to the surrounding
environment in the smaller villages and, as Aldwincle does not
benefit from a regular bus service, there would be no alternative
for parents but to use their cars to travel to school.
Trinity CE Primary originally formed due to an amalgamation between
Islip School and Aldwincle School in order to provide a school for
children from both villages with an agreement that children from
Islip would provide school transport to Trinity CE Primary. In more
recent years it has adapted from being a lower school, to taking a
full primary intake to year 6, as well becoming an academy.
Throughout this time, it has served its local community as a source
of great education, as well as forming a beating heart at the
centre of this village. We are most concerned that the policy
change could represent the most significant threat the school has
faced.
We feel that the current and future children and families of
this school, particularly those in Islip and Sudborough are being
disproportionately impacted by the change in policy and should
continue to receive free home to school transport to Trinity CE
Primary School.
This ePetition ran from 22/03/2024 to 29/04/2024 and has now finished.
67 people signed this ePetition.