Latest news with #CommonwealSchool
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Schools closed due to burst water pipe
Pupils at two schools have been told to stay at home due to a burst water pipe. The Commonweal Sixth Form School and Lethbridge Primary School in Swindon, Wiltshire, closed earlier as they had no water. Utility company Thames Water said it had found a solution to fix the leak on Collard Close, but the "tricky process" could take a few hours. GCSE and A-Level exams at Commonweal School will still take place, but Year 10 mock exams have been postponed due to the disruption. In a statement, the school's headteacher Charles Drew said all students - except from those with external exams - "should stay at home and engage in remote learning". Thames Water said it had been able to temporarily restore supply in the area by bringing in water from other parts of the network. It added that workers were digging down to expose the section of broken main and expected the repair to take between four and five hours to complete. "We know how disruptive it is if you lose your water supply, so we'll work hard to get things back to normal as soon as we can," Thames Water said. Follow BBC Wiltshire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. Number of burst mains 'not normal' - water bosses say Collapsed road reopens after burst water main Water returning after burst pipe closes schools Thames Water
BBC News
5 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Swindon schools closed due to burst water pipe
Pupils at two schools have been told to stay at home due to a burst water Commonweal Sixth Form School and Lethbridge Primary School in Swindon, Wiltshire, closed earlier as they had no company Thames Water said it had found a solution to fix the leak on Collard Close, but the "tricky process" could take a few and A-Level exams at Commonweal School will still take place, but Year 10 mock exams have been postponed due to the disruption. In a statement, the school's headteacher Charles Drew said all students - except from those with external exams - "should stay at home and engage in remote learning".Thames Water said it had been able to temporarily restore supply in the area by bringing in water from other parts of the added that workers were digging down to expose the section of broken main and expected the repair to take between four and five hours to complete."We know how disruptive it is if you lose your water supply, so we'll work hard to get things back to normal as soon as we can," Thames Water said.
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Swindon school confirms bigger class sizes and less subjects amid low funds
Class sizes are set to increase and the range of subjects offered to pupils will be reduced due to a lack of funds, a head teacher has Drew, head at Commonweal School, Swindon, also confirmed that the number of support staff for children with special educational needs will be reduced and help for low-income families for uniform is being added: "I'm not saying these things publicly because I'm trying to cause an argument, I just need to be honest with our community and I think our political leaders need to be honest with the country."The government said it has invested a further £3.2bn in schools and it will support leaders to use funding efficiently. The secondary school, which has 1,400 students, will stop teaching health and social care and sociology. Pupils half way through their GCSEs will be able to continue with the Drew continued: "In core subjects, we having to make groups bigger, have more children in each class. That's because we're having to reduce our number of teachers from 94 down to 90."That doesn't sound like a huge change but when you've got no slack left in the system, that has a really significant impact."The letter said the school also plans to reduce numbers of support staff, cut the amount of alternative provision for special educational needs children and slash help for those on low income for trips and said it is a national problem with costs rising more than income ever year. He called for a "grown-up conversation" between schools and government. Neil Mercer is a maths teacher at the school, but also a parent there - he called the news a "shock" and is "very concerned"."She's in year 9, going into year 10, this will have an impact on her GCSEs. It's also about the extra-curricular activities and the wider things the school is able to do or less able to do because of financial constraints," he said. The Department for Education said the government "inherited a challenging fiscal context".A spokesperson said: "We recognise the pressures schools are facing, but despite the challenging economic context, we are putting a further £3.2bn into schools' budgets. "We trust schools, who know their pupils best, to make decisions about how best to invest their funding to support every child to achieve and thrive and to get the best value for money from overall resources."It added that the department will support leaders to use funding efficiently with initiatives to help reduce costs.
