THE controversial proposal that could have seen Tavistock College become a trust school has been withdrawn ? just days before governors were due to take a final decision on the issue. Environmental charity Westden, which would have formed a charitable trust with the College of St Mark and St John, City College Plymouth and Tavistock College, last week voted to back out of the scheme. Devon County Council had also referred the proposal to the independent Schools? Adjudicator, over concerns about the consultation process followed by the school. In a statement, the governors said they wished to give further consideration to the opportunities presented by trust status and the make-up of any proposed trust. No decision has been taken about if or when another proposal would be made. Colin Eves, college principal, said: ?I should like to thank everyone who has engaged with the debate about trust status. The discussion has developed understanding about foundation and trust status and has generated ideas about ways of benefiting from stronger partnership working. ?The governors and college will also be exploring further working relationships with the partners that were outlined in the trust status proposal. Mr Eves said the governors considered the consultation ?extremely valuable?. ?We have taken very careful note of all the comments put forward and will bear these in mind if consideration is given, in the future, to any new trust proposals,? he said. Mr Eves said ?quite rightly?, the county council had referred the college?s proposals to an independent adjudicator. ?The thinking behind that is if there is a strong debate, the adjudicator can take an objective view from the outside,? he said. Westden director Anna Kennedy said: ?Westden has worked with Tavistock College over the past 13 years, and our engagement to date has shown there are significant mutual benefits to a closer working relationship on environmental, community and sustainable subjects. ?Currently, it is felt the potential of the formal partnership is great, but we would like more time to establish the working relationships before we commit to being a trust partner. ?Westden Trustees have therefore taken a decision not to pursue membership of the proposed trust at this point. Ms Kennedy said Westden trustees and staff welcomed the opportunity to work more closely with the college. A spokesman for Devon County Council this week confirmed the proposal had been referred to the schools? adjudicator. ?We have a duty to do that if there are concerns about the consultation process. We wrote to the chair of governors last week, saying we thought a decision should be postponed while more consultation was done,? he said. It was announced last September that Tavistock would be one of six secondary schools in Devon to become ?pathfinder? colleges who would investigate becoming trust schools. But the proposals sparked criticism from unions who claimed they would privatise education. Local parents opposed to the idea formed a campaign group to fight the proposals and several demonstrations were held in Tavistock by opponents of trust schools. Organisers Tony Everitt, Margaret and Martin Quinn, David Stapelton and Andrew Thompson in a letter to the Times thanked all those who supported the dampaign. ?We believe the community?s widespread concerns about the deeply flawed consultation were vindicated when the county council took the decision on trust staus out of governors? hands and referred the proposals to the Independent Schools Adjudictor,? they wrote. ?Our request to the county to do this was backed up by some 20 pages of evidence and we are extremely grateful to all those people who helped us to compile this.?
