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KCC 'UNIQUELY HOSTILE' TO SMALL SCHOOLS CLAIMS ANGRY HOWARD

Folkestone and Hythe MP Michael Howard has viciously attacked  Kent County Council over its school closures programme.

During a speech by the MP in support of Selsted School at the Schools Organisation Advisory Board meeting in Maidstone o­n Thursday (7 September), he condemned the Tory led council for its plans to close and merge primary schools across the county.

He said: "I am very sorry to say that we have a Conservative run county council which has adopted a policy which is uniquely hostile to small schools and in my opinion, nothing short of disgraceful."

The strategy, which is designed to reduce thousands of spare places across Kent’s 400-plus primary schools, was "completely misconceived" because it was based o­n Department for Education and Skills (DfES) recommendations that did not exist.

Mr Howard told the meeting: "I have been in touch with the DfES. It has made no such recommendation. I asked Dr Ian Craig (KCC Director of Operations) for the source and authority of that statement. He was not able to provide it."

The MP went o­n to say that DfES officials had told his office that "Kent has just made this up" and that based o­n official figures, Kent was proposing closing and merging "almost twice as many schools as the whole of the rest of the country put together".

It was recommended at the meeting that Selsted School should be closed but the merger of Morehall and Harcourt schools would not go ahead. The final decision is to be made next week.