26 Letters


THE PEMBROKESHIRE HERALD FRIDAY JANUARY 30 2015


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Please post your letters to: Te Pembrokeshire Herald, 11 Hamilton Terrace, Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, SA73 3AL or email to: letters@pembrokeshireherald.com. Please include all your contact details. Te editor reserves the right to cut letters for reasons of space or editorial decisions.


Council 'can not be trusted' with school reform DEAR SIR, Following the announcement by


the Director for Children and Schools, proposing the “discontinuation” of Ysgol Dewi Sant, as part of their reorganisation of secondary schools in N. Pembrokeshire, I would like to make the following points;- A


recent school inspection put Dewi Sant as the top school in Pembrokeshire.


This occurred


because of the extraordinary effort by the staff to improve standards


following a mediocre inspection in 2013.


The school is a thriving, happy


and productive environment where the children’s education is the top priority. Closing this school is a travesty and is in no way beneficial for the children of the area, as they will be forced to travel for up 45 minutes each way to a a school of a far less satisfactory academic standard in Fishguard. A major factor is the impact on


the community. Young parents are unlikely to move to the area if there is no secondary education provision. This will lead to a longer term decline in the area which could end up with predominantly


elderly residents,


with a corresponding reduction in facilities such as the supermarket. Another extremely important consideration, seemingly ignored by the Council, is the effect on the Cathedral. It is unlikely that the current Cathedral Choirs will be


able to continue if pupils are unable to practice after school In fact, the Church in Wales offered to to make Dewi Sant into a voluntary aided Church in Wales School, which would reduce costs to PCC, as the Welsh Assembly Government would pay 85% of the repair costs and the Church in Wales 15%. The offer was not taken up by the Council. Why? There is no doubt the Cathedral will be adversely affected in many ways if the school closes.


John Maloney St Davids


£8m on supply teachers is too much Tanks from Barrowman DEAR SIR, The provision of supply teachers


in Wales has been to a great extent privatised, and many councils no longer provide supply teachers. Many private agencies recruit and assign supply teachers to schools in need. I found that eight


spent over £8 million on employing teachers through private agencies. Plaid Cymru believes there is a


better way to do this. The creation of national Welsh co-operative for supply teaching could ensure fair pay and conditions for supply teachers and ensure they were as much a part


of the national ambition of raising standards as the rest of the profession. The Children; Young People


authorities


and Education Committee is doing an inquiry into supply teachers if you wish to submit evidence, please send a submission to SeneddCYPE@ assembly.wales


Deputy


Or by post to: Sarah Bartlett, Clerk,


Children, Young


People and Education Committee, National Assembly for Wales, Cardiff Bay, CF99 1NA. As part


of the inquiry, the


Committee would like to learn about whether the use of supply teachers


NHS complaints process complexity


DEAR SIR, Your recent articles on the role of


the Community Health Council have served to highlight the complexity of the NHS complaints process and is worthy of further comment. Basically anybody who wants to


complain must do it TWICE - once to the CHC and once to the Health Board. The CHC anonymise and all


summarise the complaints to


present them to the health board three-weekly and ultimately to a new


Independent Scrutiny Panel in about six months.


It seems ridiculous - it is


ridiculous - but what you tell the CHC does NOT get registered as a formal complaint by the Health Board, so the Board can say ‘well you're telling us all this, but we haven't received any formal complaints. Both the CHC and the Board eventually, I understand, be


will


reporting to the scrutiny panel. The fewer complaints either has to report, the less will be the impact, and the


less the chance of the changes being reversed.


already


It is hard on somebody who is distressed by a bad


experience, but unfortunately they have to complain twice – once to the Community Health Council and once to the Board. If we are to reverse the catastrophic changes to health care in Pembrokeshire, however, we need as many complaints as possible reported to both the CHC and the Health Board.


Peter Milewski


REDLINE TOOLS 44 DIAMOND STREET, SA72 6BT


affects pupils. The Committee has prepared surveys for young people and for parents and carers. The surveys are available until the end of the month on the links below. Survey for young people: https://


www.surveymonkey.com/s/yp- supply-teaching Survey for parents and carers:


https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ inquiry-into-supply-teaching Simon Thomas


Shadow Education Minister, Party of Wales


DEAR SIR, As a patron of Dogs Trust, I’m


writing to say a big thank you to players of People’s Postcode Lottery for the £175,000 award given to help the charity care for more stray, abandoned and unwanted dogs this year.


Dogs Trust looks after over 17,000


dogs of all shapes and sizes every year across its 21 rehoming centres. The average cost of caring for a dog over the course of a year is around £1,275 and this award will go towards providing vital care. This can include routine neutering and microchipping, vaccinations and other medical bills along with bedding, toys and the mileage costs of transporting dogs for


rehoming. As Dogs Trust never puts a healthy dog to sleep, the charity makes additional


efforts provide a


comfortable, stimulating environment for the dogs to keep them happy in kennels whilst they await new homes. As a dog owner myself, I know how much love and companionship they can provide.


If you’re missing


some love in your life, and think you could have time to offer a home to a dog, please consider a rescue from Dogs Trust. Your local rehoming centre will be happy to help advise on the best dog for you. John Barrowman


Proud owner of Captain Jack and Harris…oh, and entertainer


www.pembrokeshireherald.com


Following the shambolic handling of the Bryn Parry Jones affair, and the generally poor record of this Cabinet, I must categorically state that I do not believe that they can be trusted to make such an important decision which affects so many adults and children’s lives, and which would end education in St. Davids where records started prior to 1363.


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