School Transport Consultation Continues to Cause Concern

The Parish Council has agreed its response for the consultation currently being undertaken by CW&C about the vexed problem of changes to the funding of School Transport.

The Parish Council is wholly against the proposal which would mean that Tarvin children choosing Tarporley High School from 2015 would no longer receive free transport. Tarporley High School is the educational institution that for many decades now has provided the secondary schooling of the majority of Tarvin youngsters.
While it was commonly understood that Christleton High School was closer to Tarvin than Tarporley, it came as some surprise that Tarporley is not the second, or even the third, closest to the village, but the fourth. Bishop Bluecoat High and Upton High School are marginally closer.
While the Parish Council has no concerns about the excellent education offered by Christleton High School, it is aware that it has a small and compact catchment area and is heavily oversubscribed. The status of Tarvin as a feeder school for Tarporley and the excellence of the transition programme appear to have been jettisoned in favour of a rigorous cost cutting programme that takes little account of traditional patterns. The uncertainty this has created for families is to be regretted. The lack of consistency in the answers given by CW&C staff is to be deplored.
The full details of the Parish Council response can be seen either by following thislinkor by looking on the High Street Notice Board.
The Parish Council would like to stress that the VOLUME of comments to CW&C can make a difference to the final decision. It therefore urges EVERYONE who feels strongly about this issue to make their views known to the Chester West & Chester Council directly during the period of consultation which does not end until Jan 24th 2014. This can be done on-line on their website by e-mail to schoolplanningandpolicy@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk or by letter to School Transport Consultation, Children and Young People's Services, 3rd Floor HQ, 58 Nicholas Street, Chester CH1 2NP. This issue could cause significant changes to the education of Tarvin children and this is your chance to make your views known to those who hold the power to make these important decisions.