These are the schools under threat

Most counties with a school enjoying the deserved reputation of Alderman Knight School would be keen to take some credit for it, Gloucestershire is prosing to close it. Sharing a site with Tewkesbury School adjacent to junction 9 of the M5, the school serves children in North Gloucestershire, but attracts children from all over the county, with many parents paying their own transport costs. Ofsted called this "a very good school" and mainstream teachers, who visit the school for training in SEN are invariably full of praise for its work.

Belmont School is a fairly recently created school formed from the merger of two MLD schools in Cheltenham. It shares a site in Warden Hill with Bournside School and Betteridge School for children with severe learning difficulties. It has just received its first Ofsted Report. At the top of the Main Findings section is the statement "Enables its pupils to achieve at least as well and often better than they could be expected to achieve by the time they leave school".

Bownham Park School has also established a fine reputation, but finds itself targetted as the first of the schools to close in 2003. It occupies its own site in the Cotswolds above Stroud and serves children in South Gloucestershire and the Southern Cotswolds. The opening line of Ofsted's Report starts "This is a good school ". This has not stopped the County Council from decreeing that it should close in 2003 and the supposedly impartial adjudicator supporting the decision.

Dean Hall School also got the Ofsted accolade of "a good school". Situated in its own grounds in the Forest of Dean close to historic Speech House, this school serves children from the Forest of Dean and Wye Valley.

Milestone School in Longford, Gloucester is a very new school created by the merger of Longford School, Hawthorne School and Chamwell Schools. The school itself is not under threat, as it deals with children with a wide range of learning difficulties, but the county is considering closing the schools MLD Unit. In its first Ofsted Report, the inspecyors stated Ofsted inspectors stated, “The Milestone is a very good school with many excellent features that fully justify its status as a Beacon School. It offers special education of very high quality.” This is a remarkable achievement for a school that has been open just three years.

In the consultations for the Cheltenham Area, the County Council has widened its net to bring Battledown Children’s Centre under threat. This is a Specialist Early Years Centre providing quality care and education for children between the ages of two and seven and support for families of children with special educational needs.

In recent months many leading politicians have been asserting that they are not in the business of closing good schools, it would seem many local politicians in Gloucestershire have different views about this.

We are currently assisting these schools in setting up theirown websites to publicise the work that they do. As this happens, we will be including links, picture and details below.

Alderman Knight School

Battledown Children’s Centre

Belmont School

Bownham Park School

Dean Hall School

Milestone School

In other counties