Hatfield secondary schools decision welcomed

12.07.31pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 21st Sep 2006

Councillor Cowan welcomes the postponement of the Hatfield Schools review. Further information is needed. Picture: http://www.sxc.hu/index.phtml

Liberal Democrat councillor Malcolm Cowan has welcomed the county council's decision to postpone further work on a review of secondary schools in Hatfield.

'Currently over half of Hatfield children go out of the town for their secondary education - this is not satisfactory; we must work towards a situation where far more of the parents are happy with what the local schools offer and are willing to send their children to school in the town' he said.

But until we know how many extra homes are to be allocated to Welwyn Hatfield (from the recent inspector's report) and where they will be, it is unwise to move towards making decisions that might not stand the test of time' he said.

'Even more crucially, there is no information on what type of schools Hatfield parents want. I asked at a recent meeting if they knew how many parents would prefer single-sex schools and how many preferred co-educational. The answer was that they had no idea, and further, there were no plans to ask.

It seems to me a nonsense to put forward proposals until we know whether Hatfield parents would support any particular type of school and how many pupils need to be catered for. Once the housing numbers and allocation are sorted, then we should be moving forward as fast as we can to plan a better future for Hatfield's children' Malcolm concluded.

For further information, contact Malcolm Cowan on 01707-3242723.