I WAS pleased to see that others in Tavistock are as worried as I am about the college turning itself into a trust school. I don?t like the idea of all the sports facilities, that all of us have contributed towards, passing from the community into the ownership of an unaccountable trust. I don?t like the idea of teachers being employed by trust governors largely under the sway of one person ? the headmaster. Most especially I don?t like the idea of the sort of governing body proposed being able to select the children they want for our local school. I say this because my son is one of those children diagnosed as having ?special needs?. I can see him as being one of the first to be selected out and sent goodness knows where else in Devon. Instead of wasting all this money on getting trust status for no good reasons, the school should be using its resources to improve what it already has as a community school. The school claims it has had a consultation over a few months. Strange that as the parent of a primary school child I have only found out what was going on in the last few weeks ? not from the school but from other concerned parents! I was given a website by people opposed to the tryust (http://keep">http://keep tavicommsch.google pages.com/home). Hopefully, other parents will read this and stop all this nonsense before it goes any further. Meriel Stapleton 27 Monksmead Tavistock I AM writing to complain about the notice that Tavistock College placed in the Times last week. This was the statutory notice informing the public that the governing body are proposing to change Tavistock College from a Community school into a Trust school. Rather than openly welcoming comments from the community, they have placed an advert which ensures that as few people as possible are aware that this fundamental change to the school will be voted on by the governors in July. They have even neglected to put ?Tavistock College? in the title of the notice. It simply reads ?Tavistock Community Trust?. The rest of the advert is in such small print that it is easily overlooked. The school was given £15,000 of taxpayers? money to examine whether trust status was right for the college. The least they could do is pay for a large and clear notice. It beggars belief that they call it a ?Community Trust? when they propose to hand over the publicly owned land, buildings and assets of the school to a trust which is not democratically accountable to the community. If the proposed trust partners (West Den, City College and the International School at Marjons) really had the interests of the school and community at heart, they would offer to become sponsor governors on the existing governing body. I urge anyone who has any concerns to make their voices known before it is too late. If the governing body votes yes to a trust school in July it is intended that the school will cease to be a community school from September 1. There is no legal provision to return to community status. There is no going back. Margaret Quinn 61 Old Exeter Road Tavistock (Parent of three pupils at Tavistock College)
