Petition For Swanage Secondary School

A group of parents in Swanage have told Heart they won't stop fighting for secondary school education in the town.

As part of a shake up of the school system in Purbeck to cut the number of empty places, council officers recommended splitting the current secondary school at Wareham with a site in Swanage.

But councillors voted again the idea, saying it would cost £14 million pounds and that they were concerned the quality of teaching would be compromised.

Mum of two Nikki Harman has started an online petition urging them to re-consider, which has so far got 121 signatures.

She said: "There were 109 births in Swanage between September 2008 and September 2009, there are the numbers to warrant a secondary school here. If Dorset County Council aren't going to provide a secondary school for us why should they have to travel all that way to Wareham.

" The younger families are coming in and it feels like Dorset County, by not listening to us, are going to loose them and lots of skills and experiences we could really do with in Swanage.

" We should be able to have our say about the future of our children and our town."

The final decision about the two-tier system in Purbeck will be made later on this year.