New secondary school to be built in South West of city

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If families in Woodseats, Abbey Lane and Meersbrook are going to be affected by this, they need to be part of the consultation now, before decisions are made, not in a year or so.

 

I also know many Meersbrook parents. The ones that have a negative view of Newfield are the ones that don't seem to have children currently there.

 

The Meersbrook parents that do have children there, have quite a lot of praise for the school, and the results that their children get there are extremely impressive.

 

There isn't currently a consultation taking place (in the sense that people can contribute openly to the debate at the current time). The first consultation stage was linked to the idea of a new school being built at all. The next stage will include discussions about catchments, and presumably Meersbrook (and Abbey Lane etc.) will have to be included if they are to form part of any proposed new catchment.

 

It's great that you know some people whose children do well at Newfield. I've heard similar stories from some (including teachers at the school itself) - essentially that it's a school of two halves, where children from the Meersbrook/Norton Lees area form one half of the school, and the children from other areas form the other half, and they don't really mix. This seems a little odd, but obviously allows some to flourish.

 

On the other hand, there are a lot of parents in the area who find the thought of sending their child to one of the worst performing secondary schools in the city slightly alarming. This is particularly true when Meersbrook Bank Primary (for example) has very high primary results. It's certainly something I hear a lot from people with primary aged children in the area, and people who are looking to move into the area with their families. "I like Meersbrook a lot but doesn't it feed to a terrible secondary school?" It's a genuine concern for many.

 

I think a key issue here is choice. Currently, Meersbrook parents and children have essentially no choice in what secondary they feed to (children in other areas do have a choice). If a new school is built, it will hopefully give people a choice.

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Do Meersbrook fall into the catchment of Meadowhead secondary?

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Do Meersbrook fall into the catchment of Meadowhead secondary?

 

Nope, Newfield. It forms the border with a few catchments: Meadowead, High Storrs and King Ecgbert, whose catchments currently start where the Meersbrook boundary stops.