“Also strange isn't it, Noddy Holder, that no sooner a new contributor, Mr Enoeda crops up than BARRY W MIDS fails to make a comment -usually never one to miss a chance to praise academies while taking a pop at Trentham. Coincidence??”

“Karen, you will be happy to know that not only do I know that your comments are correct, but the city council now also agrees with your statement. As Jim Knight stated in his debate with Rob Flello and Mark Fisher, there will be in excess of 14,500 children in Stoke secondary schools by 2019.
And who gave this figure to Mr. Knight......Serco and our city council.
So, Mr Enoeda, your argument needs to be with the city council and central government, because Karen is just quoting them in her comments.”

“Strange how Mr Enoeda of Penkhull, a new name to the education debate on this site if I'm not mistaken, has taken so much time to research Serco's statistics when he is so clearly in favour of their plans..so elated was he by the news that academies would appear in the city that he decided to check their figures. Shame his research is below the standards that this city's kids demand..regardless of the figures debate, does he believe that our future generations will benefit from Serco's mad professor plans..or is he just another from inside the inner sanctum who are that desperate to prop up their fatally flawed and unwanted plans they have now resorted to spending their valuable time defending Serco on this website?”

“KP of Trentham - Not sure where you get your ridiculous statistics from - Data from the Office for National Statistics (*), Child Benefit Data, NHS data on births and GP registrations as well as LEA data (both Staffordshire County County and City Council - to take account of cross-border movements) does not support your case at all.
(*) - Please don't bother quoting ONS projections for the city's population in 2019 - they have been proven to be wholly inaccurate every year for the past two decades.
As for Birches Head / Holden Lane the development of more than 1,000 houses in the Norton / Baddeley Green area over the last 5 years has led to siginificant population shifts across the city. (Not something Paul of Trentham considered in his ill-informed comment about something that happened at Willfield 20 years ago).”

“Oh, what a surprise, the new Academy may have to be built upon Willfield!!!
Those of us who have campaigned against the location of this school have known all along this is exactly where it would end up.
The gasometer site has only ever been mentioned so they could call the site 'Parkhall' and not mention 'Bentilee' because it sounds better.
Surprised, shocked? No! It's only going to end up where we knew it would - Willfield, Bentilee.”

“Of course the location of schools should have been considered when the frst part of the city's application was put together. It is nothing short of incompetance by SERCO to propose reducing the number of schools by 4, to totally mis-calculate the pupil numbers in the city which will leave us 1400 places short by 2019 and moreover to allow all 4 clousures to be in the south of the city! Jim Knight's approval of this first stage of the plan also shows that he has failed totally to grasp the fact that this SERCO plan has been cobbled together without proper research and attention to detail.
The new academy cannot be built on the Mitchel or Berryhill site because it is meant to serve pupils from Edensor and Longton High school. The SERCO plan is for pupils living on Bentilee to travel to Birches Head school. This has to happen because there are not enough pupils in the Birches Head area to populate both Birches Head and Holden Lane school. The former however is not earmarked for closure despite being on the government list of underperforming schools because the council have already spent money there updating the buildings. Meanwhile the top performing non selective school in the city will be allowed to close in a plan that is meant to bring about improvements in the educational achievements for all pupils. We have known for 12 months now that the proposals for secondary school re-organisation should be scrapped and the interests of children given priority not those of potential big business academy sponsors. SERCO's chief has admitted that they are meant to implement the council's wishes and are not there to dictate to our elected representatives.It is time for all councilors to therefore make a stand, demand changes or put themselves up for re-election so that the public can vote them out of office once and for all.”

“shouldn;t the use of green belt been considered whe it was choosen for the site?

Got say loving the use of Google Maps hope it continues in future articles.”

“Paul.Why are you surprised at the ineptitude of this council.
It has run the city into the ground for the last fifty years, Why should anything change now,After all the same old cronies are still running the council,same old behind closed doors secret meetings.
Same old quango's
Nothing will change in this city until we get rid of the old inept
Labour clowns who have built their little empires over the years they have ruled this city.
Also on their way out they can take Ibbs,and Irving with them.
This city needs new rulers,we have had enough of the self serving bunch of fools in charge at present.”

“Twenty odd years ago, Willfield High School was closed under a previous school closure program by Staffordshire LEA.
Are we now saying that was a mistake?
Are the Council really suggesting building an academy on the same site?
What will happen to Willfield Community Education Centre?
It's hardly going to fit in Bentilee Neighbourhood Centre on Dawlish Drive!
The ineptitude of City of SoT LEA and Community Services Dept is truly quite staggering.”