Last week parents were sent a letter from the working party set up by the governors to look at the future of the sixth form at Seaford Head Community College. Unsurprisingly, they announce that the closure is to be permanent. What is unusual is their lack of any pretence at debating the arguments for a sixth form. The working party’s report is purely procedural, and doesn’t bother to argue the case for the closure. I conclude, as will many others, that the consultation was only a device to rubber-stamp a decision already taken.
There has been some press coverage of the end of sixth form education in Seaford. It is nearly a year since, after news of the closure leaked out, students and parents, with the support of local councillors and Norman Baker, the local MP. Teachers, though they expressed support privately, were too cowed to join us.
We may not have saved the sixth form, but we can be proud of what we achieved:
- we exposed the endemic mismanagement at the school;
- we challenged the cult of secrecy surrounding the way the school is run;
- we demanded that governors be accountable to parents, staff, students and the town.
Thank you, everybody who contributed, who came on the march, who helped organise the meetings, who donated money to the campaign, to the journalists who unfailingly gave us press and TV coverage, and to those local politicians who stuck with the campaign. Those who lost interest, or changed sides, may find that voters remember this at next year’s local elections.
The Brighton Argus
Sixth form closure confirmed
Disappointment at sixth form closure
Sixth form closure confirmed
Tags: consultation, seafordhead, seafordheadcommunitycollege, sixthform
