Thanks for the merger support

Anne was on holiday at the time of the crucial vote on July 25 and she flew back from Rome at her own expense to ensure her vote was registered.

Anne had nothing to gain personally from the vote but she knew what was at risk for the whole of Sheffield if the Building Schools for the Future money was jeopardised. Thank you, Anne, for your unfailing support.

Mrs Claire Chapman - Myers Grove Parents Action Group

Another school doomed

Mike Russell's piece on the Myers Grove/Wisewood dispute (July 26) ended with the very important point that another secondary school in the city may have to be closed before the end of the decade.

Anyone even vaguely familiar with the situation in Sheffield will have a good idea of where the axe will fall. This makes Abbeydale Grange's decision to adopt Foundation school status all the more interesting (and depressing).

Until very recently, secondary school closures were rare and occurred only in extreme circumstances. The Government's BSF programme has transformed the situation completely. Throughout the country, secondary schools are being closed and amalgamated at an alarming rate.

The focus on falling rolls is shortsighted and is being used as a smokescreen. Populations rise and fall, nationally and locally. Britain's birthrate is now higher than it's been for 13 years. The present wave of school closures will necessitate a wave of school expansions in 10 years' time.

The Government is using falling rolls to its advantage, encouraging local authorities to close existing schools and open amalgamated new ones so that ownership and control of the school can be put out to tender. Existing schools can choose whether or not to become a Trust school.

In addition to supporting the creation of Trust schools, the falling rolls issue is leading to the fragmentation of the secondary education system in other ways. We will see more schools like Abbeydale Grange adopting Foundation status, not because of any educational benefits this is supposed to bring, but rather in an attempt to stave off closure (foundation schools have a right of appeal which community schools don't). We'll see over the next couple of years whether this strategy works.

It is hard to exaggerate the impact that a school closure has on the local community. This is why local authorities need to resist central Government pressure. Some do. Tower Hamlets has pointedly broken the first commandment of BSF funding: 'thou shalt diversify provision'. In Sheffield, there is no will at all to challenge anything the Government says or wants.

Darren Webb, S6

Shock at Wisewood

Wisewood is a popular and successful school at the heart of its community which has educated local children and their parents and grandparents before them. It is currently ranked sixth in the city for value added. It recently received a 2.2 million lottery grant to invest in impressive sports facilities which have helped it to raise attainment and build even stronger community links.

The decision to close it has left many people shocked and saddened and above all, disillusioned about where the local Labour administration, backed by a Labour national government, is leading our city. This decision starkly reveals their priorities and presumably sets out the pattern of things to come elsewhere in Sheffield:

Large

, hi-tech schools located wherever there is an available large site rather than small, local schools that children can walk to, where it is the relationships that matter most

Success

only counting if it can be 'measured' to produce league tables as opposed to success that relates to pupils feeling cared for and happy at school

Trust

and Academy schools that put big business and employers at the heart of education rather than community schools that put children's educational and social needs at the heart of education

Economies

of scale and lower costs at the expense of parental choice and community cohesion

No wonder 'Team Tory' could wholeheartedly vote with Labour on this decision - there is nothing here that David Cameron wouldn't sign up to. But are those really the priorities of the people of Sheffield or is Labour completely losing touch with its people and its traditional values?

Teri Connolly

Parents were patronised

What has really bothered me about the education department's handling of the process of announcing the closure of Wisewood School is the way in which the parents and local community have been patronised throughout. From being told lengthy and costly journeys to school were not really an issue (no subsidised transport has been offered to the Wisewood community, remember) to the fact that we should jump up and down with joy because the new school is going to have a 'traditional' sixth form and lots of new vocational courses.

When will our needs and feelings be addressed? All school effectiveness research shows the importance of engaging with parents. The way this whole process has been carried out has made us feel we have no sense of ownership of our children's educational futures. The closure of Wisewood School is being forced on us so that our children can be used to prop up falling rolls in Bradfield and the new Myers Grove. Unless the council takes our concerns seriously this project is destined to get off to a very unsuccessful start.

Juanita Shepherd, Studfield Grove 6

Quality of education

As a parent of a three-year-old living in S6, I would like to offer thanks to the parents, school governors and residents of Stannington, Wisewood and Walkley, who tirelessly campaigned for the new, merged school on the Myers Grove site.

I genuinely believe the new school will offer our children the quality of education and variety of curriculum open to other children in Sheffield and will entice the calibre of teachers they deserve.

I would also like to thank Martin Davis (Independent councillor) for taking the time to attend the council meetings, listen to the views of all concerned and seek the opinions of several head teachers in the area before deciding to vote for the merger.

In contrast, I am appalled at the discourteous behaviour of our own Liberal Democrat councillors, who steadfastly refused to listen to the views of their own constituents, preferring to honour their reckless 'election pledge' to Wisewood residents. They should be ashamed.

Jacqueline O'Brien, Stannington

Community devastated

I would like to state how angry I am at the council's decision to go back to the original merger. The report done by the Labour Party is full of lies and most people have believed it and backed the merger.

The community of Wisewood is devastated that it is going to lose its secondary school. What next for Wisewood, or are we slowly going to be wiped off the map because there isn't much else left on the Wisewood estate now?

Thank you Labour Party. Can't wait to see what the next election brings for you in the Hillsborough ward - it's about time our council was run by a different party.

Lucy Fairest (SOCS member), Wisewood

Insensitive and arrogant

Coun Harry Harpham, Cabinet member for education, made a pledge in the council chamber to work to bring the two communities together to make a success of the merged school.

Does he really think it was a good start to come up to the public gallery after the vote and stand beaming and shaking hands with the Myers parents while ignoring the distressed Wisewood parents and young people who had just heard their school was, after all, to be axed?

Unfortunately, this is what we have come to expect of Coun Harpham. Throughout this painful process he has made one insensitive gaffe after another when making public statements. His arrogant and disrespectful heckling of other councillors trying to make their points in the council debate was disgraceful.

Does the Labour administration endorse this kind of behaviour and is it really possible to have faith in Coun Harpham's ability to sensitively see through this travesty of justice?

Teri Connolly