“The ONLY reason given for the closure of Trentham High school was insufficient numbers. Given that the council have suddenly found 1600 pupils for whom they have a legal obligation to provide a place within their boundaries it is totally incomprehensible for Mr Ibbs to state that there is no need for a review of SERCO's proposals. The proposed site at Park Hall has still not been costed despite being talked about for over 12 months which is yet more evidence of incompetance by SERCO.
Prime minister Brown stated that he made a mistake by abolishing the 10p tax band and made swift reparation. It is surely time for the whole high school proposal to be re-drafted before it is too late or are our councillors above admitting a mistake?.
Just one more little point Mr Irving stated earlier this year that Trentham High school would have his backing if we could prove there were sufficient pupil numbers. Now that the council have admitted that their figures are wrong Is it too much to hope that he will be true to his word and back his local community school?”

“Once again Sir Roger Ibbs speaks out. Opps NewYear honours list not yet published.
Its about time this cllr stepped down from his post and other councillors took on a vote of no confidence in him. How can he represent his constituents who clearly he has a great dislike for, as well as remain impartial in making judgements. Where will our children be in 10 - 12 yrs time if its up to him? Crammed into extra large classroom sizes. The anti academies alliance recently reported one class in an academy having 90 pupils, joy I cant wait to send my children to one of those. Not.

Barry, just for reference its not just people who live in Trentham fighting to keep the school open so how can it be a fight of the "posh enders" in fact I know the person who is legally challenging the closure doesn't even live in Trentham but has children who attend / have attended the school, so once again people need to get there facts straight before making statements they know nothing about.”

“I would also like to point out these pupil numbers being wrong will effect every school aged child and their family.”

“Isn't this story about the SERCOuncil's ridiculous and frankly unbelieveable and unjustifiable plans to sell this city short because they are desperate to build new schools no matter what the consequences for future generations and local communities?'Barry' is succeeding in his now transparent ploy to take the focus away from the real issue by baiting the Trentham community. We all know Barry is not Barry and he's also not from the West Mids, funny how he commented at 10.54, the first to comment shortly after this story was published..it's as if he knew it was going to appear..now who was quoted in the story...?”

“This is Stoke not the West Midlands. WE do not need lessons from the likes of Wolverhampton amd Walsall in how to mess up the running of a city. WE can do it all ourselves.”

“Listen, BARRY, you small minded bigot - this is about the WHOLE city, not just Trentham. As neither Trentham or Stoke-on-Trent fall under West Midlands, why don't you keep your comments -anti-Trentham or otherwise - to yourself as you are boring us all now. It's not as if you are factually correct with your comments, so why don't you try removing your head from the backsides of Meredith and Ibbs and learn what the REAL issues are here?!”

“Lets be honest, if the Government is not allowing the LA to use figures beyond 10 years. whose fault is that, if we won't have enough pupil places. The Governments, not the LA.

They bring in the BSF Project, to address the fall in pupil numbers, and to lose unpopular or failing schools. How ridiculous, that in 10 years time, they will need to find more money, to build more, or expand the ones that we have got, to address the lack of spaces. So, why call the project Buidling Schools for the Future, when they are not really looking too far into the future at all.”

“It's little wonder Lilteracy and Numeracy is a problem in the City.
The portfolio holder (Roger Ibbs) and Director of Childrens Services (Ged Rowney) obviously have difficulty counting children rolls and reading their own reports.
It's a shame the Council terminated Adult Education classes at Trentham HS a few years ago. Messrs Ibbs and Rowney could have enrolled on the excellent Adult Literacy and Numeracy courses on offer.”

“Barry, these "checked" numbers would be the ones that council has just admitted that it got wrong! 13,300 kids by 2017, an increase of over 1,000 and 14,642 by 2019, 2,500 more than they originally predicted. That's 1,600 children too few assuming every school is full to capacity.
Roger Ibbs has simply admitted that he has put his trust in a checking system that approved inaccurate numbers.
Within 10 years we will either have to have built 2 or 3 new schools or put 1,800+ pupils in academies built for 1,200. No Barry, these are not numbers I've made up, these are the councils figures, just read their SfC part 1 and you can see for yourself (perhaps you were involved in writing it).
Enough is enough, you're right. It's time for a major rethink and questions asked about why our EMB is trying to sell this city short!”

“Well the council must really be in the Jim Knight now, if they can¿t even wheel out Ged Rowney to make some comment on this.

What Roger Ibbs fails to say is that Jim Knight¿s letter to Ged Rowney raises concerns about the link between BSF investment and actual educational outcomes, the arrangements for academy sponsorship, accountability, budgeting, management of change, diversity and choice.

Barry you really do have an issue with ¿poshenders¿ don¿t you. The feeling is mutual, we ¿posh¿ types ¿ not, are tired of you moaning too.

This is not about any particular area, this affects the whole of Stoke-on-Trent! But it could nevertheless be noted that keeping Trentham High would help solve the council¿s problems with numbers, educational outcomes, diversity and choice. Councillor Ibbs said some time ago that if extra pupil numbers could be found, he would fight to keep Trentham High open. Well Councillor, this is your moment! If anyone is in any doubt about the feelings in Trentham and our continued determination to fight for our school, I suggest you take a little trip down the A34 between the Hanford and Trentham Estate roundabouts, then along Longton Road. It will be visually obvious what we think in the ¿poshend¿.”