Shortwood Infant School

When a school suffers falling numbers it is right that the authorities investigate. It is no use carpetbaggers from minor political parties joining in the protest without offering constructive solutions.
Of course the resultant smaller class sizes are good in principle, but not at the expense of starving funds from other more popular schools in the area.
Shortwood Infant School has room for 81 children, but with numbers currently well below 50 it is not financially viable, and the quality of education is beginning to suffer.
So yes, let’s support the tradition of a 114-year-old school, but only on condition that it’s fall from grace is addressed by concrete measures to restore its intake.
I remember when my first infant school shut in 1962. It was a terrible shock because all the teaching methods changed, but I survived.

Tory Toff Campaign Stinks

You’d have thought Labour would have learnt their lesson from the Tory-Toffs campaign, which led to their drubbing in the Crewe & Nantwich by-election last year.
But they’re at it again, accusing the Conservatives’ front bench of being full of old Etonians, when in fact two-fifths of the Labour cabinet went to fee-paying schools.
Diane Abbott says it’s OK to send her son to a fee-paying school, but not for David Cameron to choose from the best educated in the land to form an alternative government.
The number of children who attend fee-paying schools has increased to one in 14, as families sacrifice their standard of living in search of a better quality of education than Labour can offer.