6 weeks of Consultation starts now!

July 2012 is the date they have set for primary school closures. If we our children and our childrens children to be able to experience Onny for themselves we need to get behind our school and push those petitions. If you have any ideas for protests, lobbying, petition signings please get in touch. laura.watton@sky.com Or through our facebook page linked below.

This information is from the Shropshire Star website. It gives us great guidence for organised events, lobbying, petitions and so on.

We need support from every corner of our community. It would be nice to think of ways that we can raise Onnys profile.


•February 15: Cabinet will be asked to approve further consultation on each of the proposals.

•February 28: Consultation begins and will last for six term-time weeks.

•May 4: A report on the consultation on each proposal will be made to cabinet. At this stage the cabinet can decide not to proceed with the process or significantly amend the proposals, which would require a further consultation period.

•May 11: Scrutiny committee could examine the process and decision-making so far.

•May 16: The council publishes formal proposals to change the organisation of schools in an area.

•May 16 to June 24: The council receives representations on the proposals. It should be noted that the council can make only very limited changes to the proposals at this stage.

•July 20: A report on each proposal will be made to cabinet with a recommendation on whether the proposal should be agreed.

•Primary schools would close at the end of the academic year in July 2012. If closure of the Wakeman School is agreed this would take place at the end of the academic year in July 2013.


Read more: http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2011/02/08/shropshire-school-closures-timetable-for-consultation/#ixzz1FG1ONnw8

More pointers for letter writing.

So many of these things apply to Onny. If you are unsure of awards and specifics ask in school or one of the Onny Action Group.




These pointers are excellent for describing Onny School. Happy writing...lets show`em what we`ve got!!

 

Updated List of Addresses of Cabinet members to Lobby

ONNY ACTION GROUP

As everyone will be aware the cabinet passed the proposal for closure.  We are now in a consultation period which will last 6 weeks, starting 28^th February 2011.  We need your support.  We need you to lobby the below people as parents and supporters with emails/letters letting them know why Onny CE Primary should not close.

Proposer and cabinet member responsible for closures:

Cabinet members and MP:

David Taylor Corporate Director Children & Young People’s Services Shropshire Council Guildhall Frankwell Quay Shrewsbury Shropshire SY3 8HQ david.taylor@shropshire.gov.uk Aggie Caesar-Homden Portfolio Holder for Children & Young People’s Services Shropshire Council Shirehall Abbey Foregate Shrewsbury Shropshire SY2 6ND aggie.caesar-homden@shropshire.gov.uk

Shropshire Council, Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY2 6ND keith.barrow@shropshire.gov.uk gwilym.butler@shropshire.gov.uk steve.charmley@shropshire.gov.uk ann.hartley@shropshire.gov.uk simon.p.jones@shropshire.gov.uk cecilia.motley@shropshire.gov.uk mike.owen@shropshire.gov.uk malcolm.price@shropshire.gov.uk martin.taylorsmith@shropshire.gov.uk MP: 54 Broad Street, Ludlow, Shropshire, SY8 1GP philip.dunne.mp@parliament.uk

Briefing From Onny School Governors.

Shropshire Council’s Cabinet decided on Tuesday 15 February to continue to progress their school organisation proposals without any amendments. This includes the closure of Onny School much to the dismay of the local community and especially the children, parents, staff and Governors.

Onny CE School Governors believe that this decision does not offer the best solution for the future education of children in the area, being based on misleading data and flawed thinking by their officers. The poor quality of the consultation data has been formally reported to the Council’s Director of Children and Young Peoples Services on 25 November 2010, but no reply has been forthcoming from him.

The Governors believe that there is a strong case for Onny CE School remaining open and are actively planning for the future. To this end we have appointed a new, very experienced head teacher to replace Mr Phil Dale who is retiring at the end of March.

There is widespread recognition that things cannot remain as they are against the background of reducing numbers of pupils and associated grant settlements. Onny Governors accept this but do not consider it sensible to close schools before all other options have been full explored and evaluated. This is something the Independent Policy Commission, set up by the former County Council, recommended but has not been adopted by the present Council in their decisions so far.

During the previous consultation meetings over the previous 9 months, our head and Onny Governors have consistently indicated a willingness to explore collaborative arrangements in detail with other schools under the general direction of the Council. To date this has not happened and they now feel obliged to contact other schools in the area direct in an attempt to form effective organisational arrangements in a cluster group/federation that will deliver cost savings in the medium to longer term. They have not received a satisfactory explanation from Shropshire Council as to why 20 other schools were strongly recommended to federate but Onny School was excluded and recommended for closure. The Cabinet report identifies a saving of approximately £36k if Onny School closes. This is the lowest of all the potential savings by a significant margin and could easily be offset by sharing a head-teacher for example.

Depending on the outcome, of the approach to other schools, Onny Governors will seek to form a federation with one or more schools and a business case will be prepared for the Council to consider during the next consultation period that ends on April 8. It is hoped they will then agree for Onny School to remain open.

Should this course of action (the preferred course) be rejected, a vigorous case will be made during the remaining closure timetable to highlight the deficiencies that we believe exist in the Council’s consultation and decision-making processes. At the same time investigations will be taking place into Onny School becoming either an academy or free school outside the control of the Council.

Stokesay Court

 Onny  Action Group will be at Stokesay Court on Sunday afternoon between 1.30pm and 5pm collecting signatures for our petition. It is their annual Snowdrop Walk afternoon and we have been kindly invited to help us with our cause! Any volunteers for timeslots over this afternoon would be appreciated. If you feel you could offer and hour or two please contact Janet. Or email Laura.watton@sky.com

Save Your School Hand Book

SAVE YOUR SCHOOL HANDBOOK

Some very relevent information about saving our school from closure. Its heavy going but if you can make your way through it, it is very worth it :) Happy reading.

ONNY!! ONNY!! ONNY!!

What Would Federation Mean for Onny?

Onny Governers are activly seeking federation with other schools.  But what does Federation actually mean. Below is a link to a case study of three schools who have one Executive Headteacher. Its quite easy to see how this would be a really positive move for Onny. Have a read.

Federation

Onny in the News

Keep checking back for Onny In the News

Advertiser

Heritage Plea

Official Consultation Meeting

BIG Community Meeting SSJ

 Onny on Midlands Today

BIG Community Meeting & Flower Festival

Onny In The News

 Only Fools Would Close Onny School - John Challis

 Battle Starts Here

 Philip Dunne - We need to work together.

Stokesay Court lends support

 Councillor Peter Phillips criticises plan to axe schools

Using the Petition

You can use the petition posted on this website to gain signatures over the consultation period.
All you need to do is copy the entire post (only the post and not any other page info) and paste it into word. Hopefully the signature page will present on a different page to the front page. If not, a little resizing may need to be done but it worked well when i copy and pasted it) Obviously you can print off as many signature pages as you need. Completed petitions need to be handed in at the school marked for the attention of Lisa Owen.

Keep Fighting, Keep Smiling

Onny Action Group Petition

ONNY ACTION GROUP

SAVE OUR SCHOOL

Onny CE (Aided) Primary School has been listed as one of the 9 schools which is threatened with closure by Shropshire Council.  Small rural schools have a place in our society; they should be viewed upon as a valuable resource for the county.  The proposal should have focussed on solutions on how we can promote growth of rural schools by enhancing and supporting parent choice and not discriminating against where our village is situated.  By signing this petition you support our plea to have this proposal abolished and to SAVE OUR SCHOOL.

Contact information:  Lisa Owen, C/O Onny CE Primary School, Onibury, Craven Arms, Shropshire, SY7 9AW

ONNY ACTION GROUP – SAVE OUR SCHOOL                                              PAGE

CIRCULATOR NAME:                                                                                       DATE:

Name	Address	Signature

No of signatures:..............

Template Letter

Your Name

Your address

8th February 2011


Name of who you are writing to
Address of who you are writing to

Dear name of who you are writing to

SAVE ONNY C OF E PRIMARY SCHOOL

I am writing to you to express my concern over the proposed closure of Onny C of E Primary School.

On roll today we have total of 53 pupils, not 49 as stated in the report. 36 pupils come from outside catchment area, which you deem as negative, however we see this as parents exercising their rights to choose a rural village school as opposed to their nearest most convenient town school. The previous threat of closure damaged our enrolment numbers nevertheless we have seen growth in the numbers of children attending, with the Nursery reaching capacity, and the school filling from the bottom up.


Our governors and staff are working hard to make our school sustainable. They are actively campaigning to lay the foundations towards a possible federation and the sharing of resources. They have researched eco friendly options for electricity and heating such as solar panels, wind turbines and underground thermal heating. We were told we had until 2020 to formalise these plans, how can we improve our efficiency if we are not given the time to succeed.



According to the report on the school organisation in Shropshire, the saving by closing Onny C of E Primary would be approximately £36,700 per year. This is a miniscule saving for the disruption and stress it will cause our children. This is approximately the cost of a teacher, and as stressed in your letter to parents, if the case is that the children moving schools involves employing another teacher you would do so, all this upheaval, and disruption of education would be for nothing! How much will our children have to suffer for a 3.67% portion of the saving!

I have chosen to take my children to Onny C of E School because of its outstanding facilities. Onny School offers my child a caring atmosphere and a compassionate place for learning, seeing each child as an individual and adjusting education accordingly. It is my sincere hope that you will consider these points when casting your vote on Tuesday. Every child matters? As long as they are within budget!

Yours sincerely

Template Letter to Lobby Cabinet Members.

ONNY ACTION GROUP (outdated as of 12/2/11- please see new list)

We all need to stand as one and stick together. No action will mean no Onny! This is a decision which is not yet set in stone, we need to fight to save our school. Please do not be scared, we have fought it before and WE WILL fight again, but we do need to be loud and make sure we are heard. We need to turn our passion for our rural school into power by lobbying the councillors.

Here is a list of people which EVERYONE needs to write to TODAY! The vote is being cast next Tuesday 15th February. See separate flyer for our protest details on that day.

We have designed a template which outlines why we think Onny School should not be set for closure. Please feel free to use any or all of this information in your letter. If you know anyone else who would like to support us by writing to these people, please feel free to pass on this information. If you have any issues with emailing please contact us and we are more than happy to help, ie, emailing on your behalf – Jan – xxxxxxxxxx, Lisa – xxxxxxxxx, Laura – xxxxxxxxx. This needs to be emailed NOW so they receive the letter in plenty of time before making their decision.

List of cabinet members who will be voting on Tuesday at Shirehall to write to:
Other important people to write to:

Shropshire Council, Shirehall, Abbey Foregate, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY2 6ND

keith.barrow@shropshire.gov.uk

gwilym.butler@shropshire.gov.uk

aggie.caesar-homden@shropshire.gov.uk

steve.charmley@shropshire.gov.uk

ann.hartley@shropshire.gov.uk

simon.p.jones@shropshire.gov.uk

cecilia.motley@shropshire.gov.uk

mike.owen@shropshire.gov.uk

malcolm.price@shropshire.gov.uk

martin.taylorsmith@shropshire.gov.uk
MP:
philip.dunne.mp@parliament.uk

Councillors:
david.evans@shropshire.gov.uk
Brandlea, Old Newton, Craven Arms, Shropshire, SY7 9PG

james.gibson@shropshire.gov.uk
The Firs, Sandford Avenue, Church Stretton, Shropshire, SY6 7AB

info@heatherkidd.org.uk
FREEPOST RSAE-KEBY-AYRX, CHURCH STRETTON, Shropshire SY6 7JB



Further copies of all correspondence regarding Onny Action Group can be found at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Onny-Action-Group/124962534243493 or contact Jan – xxxxxxxxxx–   Lisa – xxxxxxxxx–  , Laura – xxxxxxxxxxx – laura.watton@sky.com who can email you copies.