St Dominic’s Catholic Primary School

WHEN is a consultation not a consultation?

It is a question that will be on the mind of parents and carers at St Dominic’s Catholic Primary School, (Tears as children and parents stunned at closure plans for St Dominic’s school, October 13).

They have been given a form with four questions. The first asks whether they agree with the proposal to close the school. The remaining three imply a decision has already been made.

There is not a sniff of an alternative being proposed by the school’s governors, who fronted up three meetings, or the Diocese of Westminster which governs the school.

The nature of a consultation implies there is a choice.

Instead, it seems the choice facing parents is either closure or closure, a situation redolent of a Franz Kafka story. A veneer of democracy masking the stale crust of inevitability.

Parents can all tick a box saying that they don’t want a school to close. But we all know that won’t make a blind bit of difference.

Parents themselves are up for a fight – and more power to them. But it’s no wonder they walked out of a meeting yesterday (Wednesday) with governors. Apparently for governors, several of the questions were “not for them to answer”.

The New Journal was turned away from one meeting and questions to the Diocese of Westminster remain unanswered. If it is an honest consultation, what is there to hide?

It looks like yet another high-handed approach, dismissing people’s views in favour of predetermined outcomes. While it may tick the box of democracy, it is against the spirit of it. We saw a similar approach to the closure of Carlton and St Aloysius primary schools.

They seem to be model exercises in how to give people hope when there might not be any. No wonder people feel disillusioned when they fall into the democratic void.

Parents at St Dominic’s are this week upset and worried enough about the futures of their children.

The last thing they need is to come up against a stone wall of governors, a diocese that is uncommunicative and a council that seems to be happy to facilitate the process.

The issues around falling school rolls are well-documented and very real.

What is needed from those in charge is openness, fairness and honesty – so it becomes clear what there is for parents to fight for.

It’s time to get real and call a halt to such sham consultations.