Stockport Council’s Executive recently decided to consult over the proposed closure of Offerton High School. Last night that decision was reviewed by the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee, of which I’m a member.

The decision to go to consultation was supported by 14 of the 15 members present and opposed by none (Cllr Rowles abstained).

What I’ll do here is put down my personal thoughts as a committee member. I don’t know Offerton School well – the only connection I have is my son attending the music service there every week, so if you’d like to comment from a different perspective, do go ahead.

It was clear to the committee that something must be done about the excess secondary places in East and South Stockport, and the strategy is to tackle the East first, then look at the South afterwards.

The East schools (Stockport School, Offerton, Hazel Grove, Marple Hall and Werneth) will have over 2,000 spare places by 2014/15 if nothing is done. That needs to come down to around 1,000.

Why? Money follows the pupils, so a school with fewer pupils has less money. But many of the costs are fixed: there’s little you can save on buildings maintenance and utilities, for example. As the money drops, it’s staff and equipment that bear the brunt. That means larger class sizes and a poorer education for the children.

The most obvious way of correcting the excess of places is to close a school. Of those above, Offerton is considered the most appropriate to close:

• Offerton has the largest number of surplus places (32%), and this is forecast to increase further.
• Last November, Offerton was inspected by Ofsted, judged to be Unsatisfactory and given formal Notice to Improve. On a return visit in May 2010 inspectors judged that, while some progress has been made, it’s inadequate
• Offerton’s buildings are in poor condition and it’s forecast to run up a deficit of over £2 million by 2011/12
• Over the last few years, only just over half the parents in Offerton’s catchment area have chosen to send their children to the school.

If the Council fails to do something (and that might be something other than closing the school) we’d be letting down our children. More and more of the money to educate them would be going on building maintenance, utility bills and the like, and less on their teaching.

The consultation that will now go ahead cannot, in my view, be simply to ask whether or not the school should close. Carrying on as we are now is not an option. Continuing to have a failing school with over 30% of the places unfilled and a debt which will soon be in the millions is not an option.

But the Council must be open to alternatives. Any alternative must deal with those three issues: the standards, the places and the finances. If, through the consultation, a viable alternative can be found that allows the school to stay open, to flourish and protects children across the borough, we’ll be the first to cheer.

Offerton’s Chair of Governors, Paul Beatty, has outlines an alternative plan which will come into the consultation. It still needs fleshing out with those details.

At yesterday’s meeting we also looked at the transition plans, should the school close. I can’t remember all the details, so I’m not going to write things down here and risk making a mistake.

What I can say is that the education of the children currently at the school is the top priority. Fuller details of how the transition to closure would work will be included in the consultation booklet currently being prepared.