No to Maiden Erlegh Catchment change

We are a group of concerned parents and residents from Reading and Wokingham Boroughs who are affected by the proposed change to the Maiden Erlegh school catchment area.

We are asking Wokingham and Reading Borough Councils to work together for a fair and realistic solution to the problem of the inadequate number of available school places in East Reading including Earley and Lower Earley.

We understand the problem and the need to find a long-term solution, however we oppose the proposals for the following reasons:

We believe that the whole process has been poorly conceived and is being rushed through without proper consideration of the wider problems and ‘knock-on’ effects.

The inadequate quality of the proposals reflects the poor process of consultation and dialogue that has taken place so far.

One part of the community is being disadvantaged in favour of another part which is unfair, divisive and does not provide an overall solution to the problem. The real issues of school quality are not being addressed, when they were highlighted as the top priority by the Schools Adjudicator, whose report has prompted this exercise.

Wider issues, such as potential new schools, changes to grammar school catchment areas, changing demographics and proposed housing developments, need to be considered at the same time.

The group is emphasising the need for the political parties to work together on this issue and that it will remain non-party aligned in this campaign.