“If Sandon is to be responsible for Longton, after its closure in 2010, it concerns me, that the Head, Deputy Head or Governors of Sandon, have not publicly said they support this move. If, they do not, then at least be honest and say so, then everyone knows where they stand. I can appreciate, it is difficult to run one school, let alone two, so they probably have concerns also. Is there any need to cram all these pupils, into Sandon/Edensor, until the new Academy is built? Stuck in the middle of this, is a set of pupils who are not, upto now, guaranteed a stable education. Having said that, the staff that are left at Longton, will do their best to support these pupils, and as always, will work hard, to provide the best education possible, under difficult circumstances. We welcome the call in, and hope that further discussions can take place, to ensure the best outcome is reached, for all involved.”

“Well done to them for calling this in. It is imperitive that the quality of education is maintained for the pupils remaining at Longton. It is no good Ged Rowney saying that current pupils will be able to stay at the Longton site without also ensuring job security for the staff so they can remain there too! And it is no good him saying that this can't be done as the Park Hall academy doesn't exist yet, as if, well too bad on those particular pupils then. (Plus I had understood that the Edensor staff had been guaranteed jobs at the Park Hall academy. If so, how is this possible but taking proper account of Longton, Mitchell and Berry Hill staff somehow isn't?) If proper staffing can't be organised then, yes, wait until the academy does exist and make proper provision for the teachers at Longton. Or else if Sandon is going to take Longton on it should be done properly and teachers based at Longton would need to become part of Sandon with exactly the same employment security as other teachers at Sandon. Breadth and consistency of curriculum provision must be maintained for pupils at Longton, particularly with regard to continuity between years 10 and 11 in key stage 4. Every child matters!”