Opposition leaders have been accused of using Bath children as a “political pawn” after they called on the Council’s Education Chief to resign. Bath’s Liberal Democrat MP, Wera Hobhouse, said the proposed closure of Bath Studio School, announced months after the Bath Community Academy closed its doors, had left the city’s schools in a “state of crisis”.

Her party colleagues said Conservative Cabinet member, Paul May, had failed Bath’s children and he should step down – but he said it was not Bath & North East Somerset Council’s decision to close the school and they were “deliberately misleading” the public.

Bath MP, Wera Hobhouse, said: “Bath’s schools are in a state of crisis. We’ve already lost one school, and now another is closing in the same area. That means that some children in the South West of Bath are being forced to change school for a second time in months, which is a disgrace.

“Catchment areas have been abandoned as part of the forced academisation process, reducing choice and increasing the travel times of children, both in Bath and in the villages around the city.”

When the BCA, formerly known as Culverhay, closed in July, some parents moved their children to Bath Studio School. They have been told it could also close in August 2020. Following the announcement, Labour’s Councillor Joe Rayment said those families were being “utterly betrayed.”

Bath Studio School’s capacity is 300 students aged fourteen to nineteen, but it currently educates just 126 students. The Department for Education has agreed in principle that it can close, but parents and carers can join a five-week “listening period” that runs until 27th November.

Wellsway Multi-Academy Trust Chief Executive, Andrea Arlidge, said it made the closure request “with a heavy heart.”

Councillor Steve Hedges, Lib-Dem, said the Conservative administration, “don’t seem to care about the mayhem their failed flagship policy is creating.”

Calling for Cllr May to resign, he said: “He has clearly failed Bath’s children. He should be ashamed of what he has presided over, and should step down immediately.”

Lib-Dem group leader, Cllr Dine Romero, said the decision to close the BCA urgently needs to be reconsidered.

But Cllr May, the Conservative Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said he has no intention of stepping down and he is proud of what the city’s schools have achieved.

He said: “I am frankly astonished and disappointed that schoolchildren have been used as a political pawn to deliberately mislead the public. Cllr Romero and Wera Hobhouse MP are fully aware that it was not the decision of the Council to close the school.

“The Wellsway Multi-Academy Trust recommended to the Regional Schools Commissioner that the school should shut after low demand resulted in the school failing to fill fifty percent of its capacity.

“The school’s poor attainment record and Ofsted rating of ‘Requiring Improvement’, combined with the dwindling demand by parents for the studio school, raises the question of whether the school was ever a good use of public money.”

Cllr May refuted claims that the catchment areas had been abandoned or that there was less choice for families. He added: “I question the Liberal Democrat leadership’s claims of our Bath schools being in a state of crisis.

“Personally, I am proud of the hard work and progress our schools have achieved over the last few years, attaining the best Ofsted results this year against our neighbouring authorities, and the second highest within the South West.

“In regard to concerns over the future of the site, we will be working with local people to ensure that we can find a suitable educational use for it which will be sustainable long-term.”

B&NES Council Leader, Tim Warren, said: “The Liberal Democrats have conveniently forgotten that forced academisation and the creation of Bath Studio School were policies undertaken by the Lib Dem-run Council in 2014.

“After blindly ignoring independent advice over the viability of the school, it is wrong of them to now shift the blame onto the Council following its closure. I find it sad that the Lib-Dems continuously talk Bath down whilst never seeming to accept responsibility for their own mistakes.

“Instead of trying to political point score at every opportunity, they should listen and act on what local people want. I simply raise the point, on my opposition leader, does she only demand better for Bath children when it is in her political interest to do so?

“Going forward, it would be in the public interest to deal with the facts, rather than this constant cycle of correcting the lies being deliberately peddled to the public by the Lib-Dems.”

Stephen Sumner