Lib Dems Accuse Tories of Washing their Hands off Oadby School Age Range Controversy.

The Liberal Democrats on Leicestershire County Council have accused the Tories of dismissing parent concerns over proposed age range changes for the Oadby schools.

Gartree High School, Manor High School and Beauchamp College are all consulting on changing their age range. The proposed changes have been extremely controversial with local parents. The schools already perform highly with Beauchamp scoring in the top 100 in the country. There are concerns that such a large shake up could only disrupt, rather than enhance, standards.

At a Council meeting, the Lib Dems proposed a motion outlining parent concerns and calling for the Council to scrutinise the business cases carefully to ensure that the Council will only support the changes if there is strong evidence that they will improve educational outcomes for students.

Oadby Councillor Dean Gamble said: "We put forward a motion calling for the Council to listen to concerns of parents and to ensure that these changes don't lead to a drop in standards.

The Tory amendment took all of that out, leaving a motion that said nothing of consequence at all. Parent concerns are being completely ignored."

Councillor Jeff Kaufman said: "These are some of the best schools in the County so it's vitally important that these potentially damaging age-range changes are carefully scrutinised.

I'm extremely disappointed that the Tories have instead chosen to wash their hands off it. Oadby residents need politicians to take action rather than to duck issues."