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Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - Inked M (12th May 2013 - 08:25:43) Last Friday after getting home from work my child presented me with a letter that he was forced to write. The letter was based on the development at Bohunt Manor and the whole of year 6 was told they had to write a letter telling the local council there were against any development. Having spoken to a few more children from the same year they have told me that even when a few of the children questioned the teachers about this and told them that they were not against the development and would like it to happen as it will also provide new facilities (other than a new school) they were told they had to write that they were against it. Now correct me if i am wrong but don't we live in a country were you a free to voice your own opinion, surely its part of the joys in living in a democracy. What sort of lesson is this to teach the children, if they have an opinion in does not matter and the have to just keep it quiet. Now I suppose that the children being told to do this against there own expressed will has nothing to do with the fact that a new school would offer competition for places and possibly affect there budget. Or I suppose as the have been told to write "why cant we add a new wing to our school instead" they could use up some of there outside recreational area seeing as they don't really seem to care about physical education anyway, but hang on...is this not the same school that wanted to weigh your children and tell you if they were overweight not taking in to regard body shape or build etc. Now im pretty sure we have invaded countries for having a similar dictatorship stance.

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - Sarah (12th May 2013 - 10:56:40) Inked M - I can't comment on what you suggest happened, but I wonder why you have posted on here rather than checking facts with the school first? Surely you could have waited til Monday morning to clarify exactly what happened? In relation to the weighing 'dictatorship' comment, I think you will find that it is a national scheme and parents can opt out of it for their children.

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - joanne (12th May 2013 - 10:56:52) This is all quite shocking but also very sad if it is true. I just wonder what is at the root of Liphook Junior School's opposition to another junior school in the village ? Why oppose ? Central to any decision making should be our children's' education, first and foremost. I think that it is also very telling that pupils travel from so far away to come to Bohunt School. This is plainly because Mr Strowger and his staff have turned that school around to be one of the very best state schools in the country. If he and his team open a junior school, is it not likely that that too would become an exceptional school ? Mr Stowger commented elsewhere that this could be a fantastic educational opportunity. He mentions the new school including a community farm, ecology park outdoor classrooms etc. This has to be good, and surely the solution would be to offer to share these with Liphook Junior school so all benefit.

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - Anon (12th May 2013 - 11:46:11) They were clearly given a choice.....my son came home telling me he had written in favour of the development.....maybe not so much of the dictatorship going on as first thought!!!

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - A. Ryan (12th May 2013 - 11:55:37) I think you are missing the point here. The junior school is just a sweetener to Liphook for allowing them to build all these new houses. The question is, do we want Liphook to become so large. What benefit would it bring to us? The centre of Liphook is already clogged with a dangerously large amount of traffic. The road system cannot take much more. The new development would largely be a small village within our village. I can see Sainsburys would benefit,but that's about all. Just what is this ghastly plan to enlarge Liphook all about, and how large do they propose it becomes?

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - tony (12th May 2013 - 12:01:03) As dear old Mr Winner would have said "calm down dear". I doubt even by Blair's standards we would have invaded anyone for setting a school essay! I can't add anything to the case of ' the essay' as my son is still in the Infant School. But I feel the developers must be laughing at us. The divisions are already starting. "Two infant schools for Liphook, divide the yocals and slip through our new MasterPlan ha ha ha!" If we did get a rival primary school (still no sixth form though, how dumb is that?) we would have a capacity for perhaps twice the number of children currently in the village! So a lot more houses could be 'justified'.(I make that double the number of houses already in the village) Cameron and his crony Pickles have intimated that would like to pretty much scrap local planning laws to push through their backers agenda (the developers) for MILLIONS of new flats and houses in the next 10-15 years, mostly in the south of England, even though environmental groups have proven that Britain currently has more than enough empty houses for ALL of the current British population (so who are these millions of houses for?), there's just no tax perks for refurbishments, all the tax avoidance perks are for new developments. Maybe ask the Tory councillor Ferris Cowper to explain that! (nothing personal, I don't blame him) but you can see why 25% of the population are now voting UKIP (I expect that number to explode if this abuse of England continues). If we sit back and do nothing, Liphook will be marked for most of East Hampshire's very large allocation. I think the developers know that.

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - Georgie (12th May 2013 - 12:07:50) As a mother of a pupil of the Junior School! I think you need to take a in depth look at your letter! I know that year 6 pupils, are not forced into writing any letters!,...their year 6 sats, are based on THEIR feelings of not only a new primary school. but the New development, of the housing scheme....Pros and Cons!..of the Enviroment, traffic,What we as a community would gain, or not gain from these developments, etc.The pupil themselves are voicing THEIR opinion, and not that of the school!., and in my opinion,..who better to voice an opinion,...those having first hand knowledge, of how THEIR school in run,..whether it be good or bad! If you have a child in that school, and dont like the way things are run,...simple change schools!

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - tony (12th May 2013 - 13:11:55) Further to my reply above, I take it back. I seem to recall that Blair did send us to war over an essay, a false one at that. But I think that was just an excuse. These are the 'hypocrites' we have to deal with today: www.guardian.co.uk/politics/... No wonder UKIP is snowballing.

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - Andy (12th May 2013 - 14:23:25) The argument here, as I understand from my child, is expansion of Liphook Junior's versus an entirely new school on the Bohunt site. There are positives and negatives to both but let's not forget that the current junior school is very good as it has already been mentioned how good Bohunt is.

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - Mary (15th May 2013 - 16:27:52) Dear Ms Frost, I was pleased that you as Head Teacher wanted respond to having another junior school in town on your school website in your letter to parents and in this chatroom. It did occur to me that your school has not yet denied reports that some teachers instructed children to write letters of objection to the Council about this. As this does concern me a bit, perhaps you can clear it up please? I agree how nice it is to keep a small village school for our children - my own little girl loved Liphook juniors years ago. But I am worried about your hints on expanding it to nearly 1000 pupils. Actually, I don’t understand why you want to expand so much if you say there is no need for another Primary school? It is such a difficult location already for locals and I would hate to think that you want to loose even more space for playtime and sports. Have you considered just replacing those old buildings if you must expand? Surely they are very costly to run so wouldn’t a new large building save you (us taxpayers) money and save a bit of your schools green space?

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - Made me laugh (15th May 2013 - 19:21:14) Maybe we should get 6 year olds to run the country they obviously now more than the adults This cannot be taken seriously can it? Do children really understand ALL that this development intails? I know children seem wiser than there years sometimes but this is NOT a childs game the developers are playing or is it a fiendish plan by them so us adults dont have upset kids to deal with? Pretty inderhand if so! Before any choice is made we all need to sit back and only make a judgement when we have 100% of the facts ( unlikey to get them ) but we have to have some hope The development will need much more investment in road access to liphook etc , ie relief road to longmore rd haslemere rd the village square is at breaking point at school times . I now leave at 7.30 instead of 8.45 to miss the chaos this cant be right?

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - joanne (16th May 2013 - 10:31:13) I think that it would be appropriate if the Headmistress of Liphook Junior School responded to this please: For the Attention of Michele Frost, Headmistress, Liphook Junior School. Is it correct that pupils in your school were instructed to object to the new school and Bohunt Manor development whether they agreed to or not ? Lets put an end to any conjecture please

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - Hal (16th May 2013 - 10:55:19) Joanne, Why do you think it is appropriate for any teachers to respond on what is effectively a "gossip blog". They may respond if they happen to read the blog, but I certainly wouldn't say that it is necessarily appropriate - they can't respond to every silly comment that is put up by some disgruntled parent. If you want to ask the teachers a direct question, go to the school and ask directly. By the way, to write a letter either for or against a development is a very common task to do in school, I did them myself when I was at school many years ago (on both real and made up developments) - it's a valid learning process.

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - A. Ryan (16th May 2013 - 10:55:45) I take it Joanne you would would like this new development to go ahead? The problem is not the school, but the amount of new housing. That will be why they need a new school, not to mention all the other problems it will create. As has been stated, a new wing to Bohunt for a college would be better, as our kids have to travel too far at the moment. Bohunt should receive more land, which could incorporate a new football pitch and cricket ground. Both the local teams and the school could then use the facilities. I think the WWF have let Liphook down badly.

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - joanne (16th May 2013 - 11:45:14) to the two recent respondents the point is freedom of speech/opinion (democracy), the right of each person to have their own point of view (even if they are minors) and just perhaps the integrity of the teachers at Liphook Junior School. As I said, it would be nice for to get a reply from Ms Frost a the person in charge, as this sort of gossip just gets out of hand. I have no other opinions and will make up my mind in due course about the development (so please do not lecture or rant at me), I just wished to clear up this little matter Please Ms Frost. put an end to all this conjecture

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - Anon (17th May 2013 - 13:20:29) Perhaps if people want to hear a response from the head of Liphook Junior School they should make an appointment to go and see her and ask her face to face....rather than expect her to write on a 'gossip blog' as someone so correctly wrote earlier

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - Barry (17th May 2013 - 13:25:41) Why on earth would the head of a school respond to a blog? If I ever have any issues , or need some clarification on something at my kids school , I make an appointment and go and see either the teacher or the head.

Re: Liphook Junior School- The Dictatorship(Bohunt Manor) - Dawn Hoskins (17th May 2013 - 14:35:20) I agree Barry I think that people assume that as this site is widely read they can post questions and demand correct answers from the correct people. It doesn't work like that. Blogs are discussions boards for people to state their opinions, thoughts and raise awareness on matters that concern them. That is all. Remember what it was like before the internet arrived? People made appointments to speak with the relevant body - or wrote letters to them. That is still the way it works and the internet has not changed that. I suppose this means that you must make a greater effort - show your face - speak one-to-one - establish your identity etc, but is that such a bad thing? Of course there is nothing to stop asking Mrs Frost and then letting us know what the outcome was, but it is silly to demand a response on a blog which is clearly not the correct forum. If you have concerns about any teacher, any lesson, go to the school and talk about it. That is the ONLY way to find out what happened.

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