St John's School

[Bob Jefferson]

[Porty]

[Maria]

25 for a refurb and 20 for a new build. Do you mean only 45 responses were received? That is quite shocking.

[Porty]

Yes 45 responses were recieived- did you edit?

As we know the St John's parents have been lacklustre but the school and its council must take a share of the blame. There was no nurture of opinion, no excitement - nada. Hopefully next time round there will be a proper consultation and a bit of a fanfare.

It seems remiss not to point out that of the 45 responses not 1 opted for a new St John's on Portobello Park.

I know that technically speaking a school on the park was not one of the options on offer but the 100% not voting for it, is one helluva powerful statistic and well worth writing to the evening News about.

[Bob Jefferson]

From today's EN:

[Porty]

[Porty]

Alison Connelly is appalled that they are trying to squeeze more pupils onto the existing site. Which is exactly the way I felt about St John's Parent Council's mission to restrict the options for a new school to the very same site!!

[seanie]

[seanie]

I meant;

I don't quite follow why the P1's would be going into the TU's because they're larger. That doesn't help with the fact that you need more than two classrooms to accommodate them, even with a composite. How many TU's are there?

[Maria]

There are 3 TUs. If memory stands me correctly, two are used as p7 classrooms with the third, more recent one, used for group work /ICT etc.

What the max size of p1 class you could have with 2 teachers Seanie?









edit: muddled ITC/ICT

[seanie]

I thought the max class size was 25 regardless, so if you've got 67 entering you'll need three classes (possible one composite), although the actual classrooms could be smaller than normal since 25 pupils can be accommodated in a class about 45m2, wheras 33 pupils (the max in upper primary) should have classes about 60m2.

[Porty]

I dont know about the newest but the others TU's were "acquired" about 16 years ago just in time for an intake of 66 P1 pupils.

Those temporary classrooms can hold classes of up to 33 pupils. Problem is that once kids leave P1 the other classrooms in the school are too small to take 33 pupils. Soupdragon may recall what happened then after P1 -did they keep the P1's in those classes?

So the school has faced an intake of almost 67 before. The extra pupil may be the straw that breaks the camels back. How does one fit a 3 class year into a 2 stream school that already has 14 classes?

I don't get the concern about the P7's "languishing" in the main building. Why should P7's be treated differently from any other year.

I seem to recall that St J's had 420 pupils at one time and 14 classes so 30 per class on average.

[Maria]

[Maria]

[seanie]

[Maria]

[seanie]

[SoupDragon]

[seanie]

There's a minimum area per pupil which from memory is either 1.7 or 1.8m2 per pupil. There might be a way to derogate from that minimum (just as you can get away with not complying with the regulations on site sizes) but I think it's generally complied with. That's why P1's might tend to be located in the smallest classrooms because there are fewer of them, but in terms of classroom organisation there's also an argument that infants probably need more space.

Older kids are (hopefully) a bit better at sitting at their tables and doing stuff from there. Little ones tend to be more on the move, sitting on the carpet, circle time etc. And schools that heve the space often try to make P1 classes a bit like nursery, with dedicated corners/areas etc. to ease transition.

But however you arrange it, if you've got 67 P1s coming in instead of 50 you'll be hard pressed to avoid creating an additional class overall. There might be a way through compositing but I can't imagine it'd be easy. So you're likely to end up losing a GP space of some kind.

[Porty]

[Porty]

[Bob Jefferson]

[Bob Jefferson]

The Story So Far

Council - Your school is far too small and in rather poor condition. We think you need a brand new school and a bigger site. If PHS moves to Portobello Park you could expand into some of the space they vacate. Problem solved.

A St John’s Parent Council Rep - No thanks. Our school just needs to be refurbished.

Council - Sorry? Maybe you didn’t hear us properly. We are suggesting that we build a brand new school and give you a bit more space at the same time. You know - a proper playground for the kids, that sort of thing.

ASJPCR - Hmm? Sorry, did you say something? I’ve been rather distracted of late organising meetings to try to prevent PHS from being rebuilt in my backyard. Hang on a minute until I find my other hat.

Council - Look, do you want it or what? Other schools are desperate for a re-build you know.

ASJPCR - OK these are our demands. We want a refurbished school and we demand that our children are decanted, which will improve their exam results. We reserve the right to annexe the old tennis courts but not if that means it is less likely that PHS will be re-built onsite. And if you have any information about site options for the parents, just give them to me and I’ll incorporate them into this, erm fact sheet I’m working on. Here’s a refurbishment plan we made earlier.

Council - Mmm, lovely. I’ll just pop it on the back burner for a few years.

Later..

ASJPCR - Can you do something? Our school is bursting at the seams!

Council - I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. There is some noise in the background. Sounds rather like chickens coming home to roost.

[Porty]

Good assimilation Bob, out of curiosity; how did the Parent Council report the outcome of the Wave 3 decison in December to the rest of the parent/school body. Was it in the newsletter or did they do a seperate communication? Maybe Bones or someone could tell us.

[Porty]

[Bob Jefferson]

From today's EN:

[seashell]

[SoupDragon]

[Maria]

[Bob Jefferson]

[Maria]

[Bob Jefferson]

[seashell]

[Maria]

[Pal of Porty]