Clause 14
Education and Inspections Bill
12:45 pm
David Chaytor (Bury North, Labour)
No, that is not the case at all. It is not an either/or matter. I think that the situation is slightly more complex than the official Opposition would have us believe.
Popularity does not equate to quality. A simple example of why that could be the case is the fact that many schools happen to have been built—whether it was 20, 30, 40, 50 or 100 years ago—in the wrong location. They were built to serve a community that existed then but economic change has meant thatthose communities no longer exist, or that thelocal population has declined greatly. That causes difficulties. If a school is trapped by its geography and a decision on its location that was taken many years ago and it cannot draw on new areas of residential housing, it will struggle for ever to increase its numbers—unless it is able to reach out to new groups of parents in adjacent areas. However, that does not mean that it is a poor or unpopular school. It may well be popular with those parents within easy travelling distance who can send their children to that school.