Hampshire County Council is planning on closing Henry Cort Community College, one of Fareham Town’s three secondary schools. This is despite a public consultation which saw 73% of us oppose the plans to close Henry Cort and move it to a new secondary school in North Whiteley.

The campaign to save Henry Cort Community College started since it was announced there were proposals to close the school. This campaign started with getting as many people to fill in the consultation as possible. Our actions clearly worked to some extent with over 1,000 of you taking part and saying no. Despite this Hampshire County Council is ignoring our voices by calling it an ‘informal’ consultation.

This is why we have we need to step up the campaign and make the case heard as to why it’s vital we keep Henry Cort open through this petition. We have to do this because our MP is silent on the issue and so are our current Conservative Fareham Town County Councillors. We must stand up to the Tory-run Hampshire County Council.

Why it’s so important we save Henry Cort Community College from closure in three key points:

1.  Education will be damaged for all young people, as Henry Cort Pupils are sent to Fareham Academy & Cams Hill School and hundreds of new pupils from thousands of new homes being built. These schools are already nearing capacity.
2. Travel costs will increase, and a new school uniform will be required, increasing costs for families in one of Fareham’s more deprived areas.
3. Traffic will get worse in Fareham and safety declines for pupils as they walk longer distances, resulting in worse attendance from pupils.

Hampshire County Council claim they will save £500,000 in school transport costs from the closure of Henry Cort. This demonstrates further that this a short-term cost-cutting measure.

Hampshire County Council have not accounted for the thousands of new homes, including at least an additional two primary schools from developments planned out in Fareham’s local plan. There needs to be a review of the catchment areas, but Henry Cort must be part of this review.

Hampshire County Council must recognise Henry Cort Community College is situated in of the most deprived part of Fareham and so must recognise the challenges posed by schools in areas of high deprivation. An area they must pay attention to is school attendance, this is already below the national average at Henry Cort. Closure will only make this matter worse, resulting in a lowering of social mobility for young people in the Fareham Park area.

Please sign this petition and tell Hampshire County Council to keep Henry Cort Community College open and review future opportunities for the school with a reduced catchment area.